MesoAmerican Bench
(click to enlarge)
Job: In-Shop Production
Date: September, 2001
Overview: An experimental foray into mixed-media furniture, this bench is an extremely substantial piece. Reflecting an interest in the ancient cultures of Mesoamerica, it shows four different cultural glyphs in the forged steel armature that holds the timber in place – the jaguar, the condor, the monkey, and Quetzlcoatl himself. The padded bolster is not permanently affixed to the bench, so if one prefers the wood to show, it can simply be lifted off. Another pleasant application is to lay a piece of thick, tempered glass on top, converting bench to coffee table with space underneath the pane for the display of books, items of art, etc.. The timber itself is pine, finished with a polyurethane stain, but such a piece could be constructed from a finer grade of material such as maple or cherry. As usual, the metalwork has been hot coated with proprietary beeswax/boiled linseed oil mixture to both prevent oxidization and to add depth to the overall finish of the piece.