Beston Barnett Design

fine custom furniture and woodworking

Category Archives: All

Stein Dresser

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21″w x 52″h x 17″d, sapele mahogany, walnut, aromatic cedar

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Solomon’s Cabinets: Wadi Alnaml

44″w, 19″h, 17″d, walnut, ebonized walnut, silver wax

“Wadi Alnaml” is part of a series of cabinets which use the abstract vocabulary of Islamic geometry to illustrate legends of the biblical King Solomon. Translated from Arabic as “Valley of the Ants,” the title refers to the 27th chapter of the Quran, within which Solomon (who can understand the languages of all creatures) overhears an ant queen warning her subjects that the armies of the great king are coming and will crush them. Solomon is amused and either diverts his army to travel only on one side of the valley or, in another version, crosses the valley on a flying carpet . Here, I’ve used a circular Kufic script to write out the words “Wadi Alnaml” three times, and suggested the burrowing of the ants with organic lines which a pattern of five- and ten-pointed stars shine between. With two doors and an open display space at the center, the cabinet can be mounted on a stand or hung on a wall with a French clete (as pictured).


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Solomon’s Cabinets: Al Tabut

44″w, 31″h, 17″ d, walnut, wenge, holly

“Al Tabut” (“the ark” in Arabic) is part of a series of cabinets which use the abstract vocabulary of Islamic geometry to illustrate legends of the biblical King Solomon. Among his many accomplishments, Solomon is said to have built the first temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. Here I’ve used a dense dark latticed border around a simpler rectangle of holly to suggest something heavy and ornate guarding something simple and precious. The two ornamented sliding doors conceal a single drawer. Like the other pieces in the series, the cabinet can be mounted on a stand (as pictured) or hung on a wall with a French clete.

* geometry note: This 8-pointed star pattern, fairly common in Mamluk latticework, is complicated here by making parts of the pattern curved, other parts straight, and allowing them to interact.


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Al Uqueaa

12″x26″x2″ walnut, wenge, and mirror

This wall-hung piece plays with overlapping latticeworks based on Mamluk design from 13th century Egypt and animal forms. ‘Al Uqueaa’ is the Arabic transliteration of ‘the snake’.

[walnut, wenge, mirror] This wall-hung piece plays with overlapping latticeworks based on Mamluk designs from 13th century Egypt that I developed for “Al Tabut.” “Al Uqueaa” is the Arabic transliteration of “the snake.”
[walnut, wenge, mirror]

 


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Mamluk Book Stand

24″x16″x11″ walnut and wenge

A book stand ornamented with overlapping lattices inspired by the Arabic geometries of the 13th century Mamluk Dynasty.

[walnut, wenge] A book stand related to my work on “Al Tabut.”


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Landworth Tables

diameters: 14-22″, heights: 15-19″, walnut and wenge

The client had this interesting idea for little coffee tables that could be huddled together or moved around the room, even sat on. The result is these seven tripod tables incorporating a single leg that comes through the top and a wenge butterfly key.

“Landworth Tables”


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Landworth Sideboard

60″x20″x36″ walnut and wenge

An expanded reworking of an earlier design, this sideboard has three drawers with intricate latticework, two sliding doors, and a floating bookmatched top.

“Landworth Sideboard”
My first piece with the Beston Barnett logo inlaid into the side!
These slabs of bookmatched claro walnut have a lot of color.


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Dining Benches

38″x13″x19″ mahogany and vinyl leather

These mahogany benches – with floating cushions, sculpted curves, and playful latticework – seat two comfortably for dinner.

Upholstery by my friend Molly Whittaker.
Delicate curves and exposed joinery.
“Dining Benches”


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Reader Lounge

70″x29″x39″ mahogany and vinyl leather

A large chaise lounge with an exposed mahogany frame and upholstery by my friend Molly Whittaker.

Besides seating one happy reader, the long flat cushion can also seat two or three comfortably.
A view from the back shows some exposed tenons, drawbores, and generally lovely woodgrain.


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Bronner Sideboard

60″x20″x36″ walnut and wenge

With three small drawers and two sliding doors, this sideboard combines a Chinese silhouette with contemporary lines, exposed joinery, and rich contrasting wood grains.

bronner_side_front800
Through dovetails and mortise-and-tenon joints complement Chinese legs and a floating top.
Through dovetails and mortise-and-tenon joints complement Chinese legs and a floating top.
Bookmatched walnut top with wenge butterfly keys and a hint of shaping to accentuate the grain.
Bookmatched walnut top with wenge butterfly keys and a hint of shaping to accentuate the grain.

 


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Walnut Vanity

40″x33″x18″, walnut, porcelain sink, and Fortis faucets

Two drawers and two doors, all with soft-closing hardware, quilted solid walnut, and a modern Japanese aesthetic make this vanity both practical and beautiful.

Handcut dovetails, bronze hardware, and a quirky asymmetry lend this facade its Japanese mystique.


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Arab Spring #2

13″x14″x21″  cherry, bleached alder, cocobolo, latex paint, and white wax

The “Arab Spring” series incorporates Egyptian geometries and grafitti-inspired calligraphy, allowing me to experiment with more relief work on the CNC router. I was so happy with my original three-drawer piece  that I decided to make another with a few changes: cherry wood and bleach to lighten the overall effect and a bottom shelf for magazines.

“Arab Spring #2”, cherry, bleached alder, cocobolo, latex paint, and white wax
Moving clockwise around the box, the calligraphy spells out the words “Arab Spring” in Arabic.
I had an idea that the entire drawers, not just the drawer fronts, could become part of the design if they were housed in a frame rather than a box.
In this close-up, you can see the intricate relief carving which wraps all the way around the back of the box.


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Arab Spring

21″x14″x13″, walnut, tamo ash, dye, graphite

This piece was a commission in which the client let me run wild. Playing with the Egyptian geometries I’ve been interested in, and adding some grafitti-inspired calligraphy allowed me to experiment with more relief work on the CNC router. The idea for a floating black cube was very much inspired by the Kaaba in Mecca.

“Arab Spring”
I had an idea that the entire drawers, not just the drawer fronts, could become part of the design if they were housed in a frame rather than a box.
In this close-up, you can see the intricate relief carving more clearly.
The three drawers, with their hand-carved pulls, are sized to fit paper, pencils, staplers, and other desk goodies.
The relief calligraphy wraps around all four sides of the black cube. I imagined these drawers sitting on a desktop, where they could be seen in the round, like a sculpture.
Here I’ve pasted together photos of each face of the cube. Reading from right to left, the calligraphy spells out the word “Arab Spring” in Arabic.


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Monkey Tail Desk

45″x22″x59″, walnut ply

This fun, compact desk – with its book cubbies, pencil slot, hinged top, and built-in “monkey tail” lamp – was cut out, joints and all,  from one and a half sheets of walnut ply on a CNC router.

The top opens and closes like an old-timey school desk, with a special tensioned hinge that keeps it from slamming.
Joinery made on a CNC machine has all these funny “dogbone” shapes, because the router can’t cut square inside corners. The strangely shaped mortises become a design element.


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Brantuas’ Sideboard and Cabinet

table: 57″x20″x41″, cabinet: 46″x17″x16″, walnut and ebonized walnut

Square Kufic – an ancient form of Arabic calligraphy – ornaments a sideboard table and matching wall cabinet of solid walnut.

The client’s name, “Brantuas”, is transliterated into Kufic and then repeated as a design motif in the facade’s carving.
The sculpted legs were designed to match chairs in the client’s dining room.


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Kufic Boxes #1 and #2

9″x9″x4″, walnut and upholstery

The maze-like carvings on these jewelry boxes are an ancient form of Arabic calligraphy: they repeat the word for “jewelry” 14 times.

Walnut contrasts with ebonized walnut: which configuration do you like better?
The calligraphy, called square Kufic, transforms the graceful curves of Arabic into square forms which can be repeated and interlaced.


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Dovetailed Shoe Bench

38″x14″x21″  walnut

A bench, two shelves for shoes, and drawer for whatever’s in your pocket when you come in the door.  All from scrap walnut lying around the shop.

Detail of the extra-giant dovetails on the sides of the bench.
I experimented with a natural edge and a band-aid-like butterfly key.


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Admiral’s Desk

60″x31″x29″, mahogany, alder, and cocobolo

A peerless slab of crotch mahogany is complimented with exposed joinery, tapered legs, and two small drawers.

The client’s chief wish was a beauitful piece of wood. When I found this wide slab of crotch-grain Belize mahogany, I knew we had it. The natural hole can double as a catch for computer cords!
A detail of handcut dovetails and gleaming exposed tenons.
“Admiral’s Desk” 60″x31″x29″, mahogany, alder, cocobolo
Brass pulls lend a naval air to the piece.
The drawer bottoms are cocobolo veneer.


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Mamluk Box

20″14″x9″, walnut, wenge, tamo ash, and upholstery

This large two-tiered jewelry box displays latticework based on that found in a Mamluk mosque in Cairo dating from the 13th century.

“Mamluk Box” 20″x14″x9″, walnut, wenge, tamo ash, and upholstery
The upper balcony is upholstered to hold rings and earrings, the lower for bracelets and brooches.
Walnut, walnut burl, and wenge produce subtle dark contrasts.
Each tiny piece of the walnut and wenge lattice was handcut to fit.


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Ingo’s Bench

44″x44″x17″, cherry ply

L-shaped seating and storage for a small kitchen nook.

Quarter-sawn cherry ply was hard to find, but necessary to match the client’s kitchen cabinetry.
Special tensioned hinges hold the lids open and keep them from slamming.