Teak Coffee Table

What does this coffee table have in connection to the three Kumiko panels from a recent post?

Well, the Kumiko panels replaced these teak cabinet doors, which the client no longer wanted, so we brought them back to the studio, unsure what to do with them. When another client asked for a coffee table, we thought it would be wonderful to reuse one of the cabinet doors that would otherwise have been thrown away.

Giving an old piece new life not only saves cost and material on our side, it more importantly reduces waste in our abundantly consumeristic society. Global trends of production tend to be unsustainable - prioritizing profit, convenience and personal gain. We already consume more than our planet can sustain. This is not to say we shouldn’t consume, but when we do, we ought to do so more thoughtfully and to consume more sustainably when we can.

This coffee table made from reused teak represents that - a step towards consuming sustainably when we can.

While the tabletop is made from reclaimed teak, the battens and the legs are made of ash. The battens are attached to the tabletop by a long sliding dovetail joint before being closed by a matching dovetail key. The legs are fitted tightly into the battens before being secured by wedges. To fashion the table legs, the legs were held in place by a shaving pony, while a drawknife and spokeshave were used to carve them to shape.

The design of this teak coffee table is similar to that of the previously made Hua coffee table. One of the main differences is that this teak tabletop is rounded whereas the Hua tabletop is more rectangular. The rounded tabletop was made in an effort to compliment the already-existing domes and arches in the client’s home.