Room Table, Private Residence, Venice, Los Angeles

A commission for a family house in Venice, Los Angeles. The client wanted one table to hold a whole room: low enough for children to sit at and draw on, open enough underneath for a dog to lie down and move around, and resolved enough to stay in the room long after the children had grown out of it. Those three requirements are in tension, and the piece took several iterations to settle.

The height came down for the children. The leg positions opened up for the dog. The tabletop went asymmetrical to soften the form and the edges. The legs are sturdy and deliberately not identical in orientation, each varying slightly in placement, which gives the base an architectural rhythm rather than a repeated pattern. Corners on the top are eased, which began as a safety requirement and became a defining detail. The result distributes its weight visually rather than concentrating it. Reduced volumes, an elevated plane, and enough open space underneath that the table sits in the room instead of filling it.

This is how most of the work starts. A family needed a table to do several jobs at once and refused to accept a compromise, and the piece resolved into something that could stay long after the brief that produced it.