Two concepts, the magnets as a whole new way of holding furniture together that could then be detached for flat packing, the other, the versatility of two stand alone tables with removable top display sections. Putting the whole lot together produces a really different and functional dining table with a raised middle serving area like a Sushi Bar.
You get these ideas, “Oh let’s put furniture together like bang bang and then knock it down.” You work with something until it fails. You can’t be afraid of failure.
The magnets alone did not achieve the required rigidity. I even put tenons in and it still didn’t work, but they added some stiffness. My goose was cooked.
Still was a bit of play that stretched out to nearly a year, combined with some valuable experimentation. It proved to be very important to the thinking behind the other solid timber projects in this exhibition.
Excerpt from conversations between David Mac Laren and Stan d’Argeavel.