Beston Barnett Design

fine custom furniture and woodworking

Category Archives: All


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Zebra Box

9″x6″x5″, claro walnut, bird’s-eye maple, wenge, zebrawood, and willow

With its inner tray and quirky use of willow twigs, this jewelry box made the perfect wedding gift for a friend.

Through a clever woodworker’s trick, the grain of this beautifully figured walnut runs continuously around all four corner joints.


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Piano Desk

58″x18″(widening to 32″)x32″, walnut

Nested solid walnut tables allow an electronic piano to be pulled from underneath a desk.

The client’s idea was to design a desk that a whole electronic piano could slide out from under. A pull-out tray, like those for computer keyboards, would have been too flimsy, so I designed two desks that nest, with one on wheels.
Mechanical slides and casters smooth the movement of the inner table.
The tables can also be used separately. Note the truly huge dovetails.
The smaller table includes some of the craziest walnut grain I’ve ever worked with.


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Maori Lamp

11″x17″x33″, walnut and antique milk glass

The reef-like sculptural quality of this large table lamp was inspired by the carved prow of a Maori canoe.

“Maori Lamp”
From the other side, a different pattern emerges.


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Kickflip

67″x36″x18″, maple ply skateboard decks, CFL bulbs

A chandelier made of skateboards, with light bulbs for wheels.

The skateboards are arranged as though in a stop-motion photo of a “kickflip”.


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Floating Light Box

19″x5″x18″, walnut and acrylic shoji paper

The diffuse light of this table lamp is reminiscent of dawn seen through Japanese shoji.

The natural rounded edge of the polished walnut balances the cantilevered rectangle of light.
A close-up of rounded handcut dovetail and base.


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Mulan Lamp

18″x26″x80″, walnut and linen lampshade

Named for my friend Jeff’s daughter’s favorite Disney heroine, this tall floor lamp combines mid-century lines, Asian joinery, and adjustable height.

A detail showing the amazing figure of the decorative walnut pin.


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Acacia Chair

22″x21″x36″, black acacia and faux leather.

This arm-less modern chair is the twin of my Mahogany Chair.  A light, practical chair, it was very much inspired by the design of Hans Wegner.

Probably the most difficult part of this chair to make is the sculpted joint that connects the back legs to the top. It’s worth the work though: that curvy yummy part is definitely my favorite element.
The curvy back rest is “coopered” – which means it is a number of thick wooden pieces whose edges are mitered and then glued to create a wide curve the way coopers used to make barrels. The “racing stripe” effect comes from coopering two sapwood edges so that it looks as though the sapwood – which is white – grew straight up through the center of the tree, and not only along the outside.
In this close-up, you can see how the cross-pieces under the seat fit into the structure. The circles are dowels that increase the strength of the joints. The leg joints are drawbored mortise-and-tenons: surely the most bombproof joint in the arsenal.


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Ruben’s Cabinet

36″x20″x46″, maple and maple ply

A simple craftsman-style entertainment center has glass doors and a large soft-close drawer for DVDs.

The maple was carefully dyed to match 90-year-old gumwood built-ins.
Dovetails in the drawer and rare-earth magnets in the door make this cabinet both practical and easy on the eye.


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Beehive

20″x20″x15″, walnut and zebrawood

With three large drawers, six small drawers, and a “lazy susan” bearing that allows it to spin 360 degrees, the “Beehive” is both a sculptural marvel and a clever solution for desktop storage.

“Beehive” 20″x20″x15″, walnut and zebrawood
“Desk and Cabinet”, “Mahogany Chair”, and “Beehive”
Each drawer bottom reveals a different zebrawood parquetry pattern.
The drawers all open in different ways, but all are held softly closed by embedded rare-earth magnets.
Every drawer configuration seems to produce a unique sculpture.
Shaping thick layers of solid wood produced these parabolas in the drawer fronts.
A detail of the handcut dovetails, each a different size.
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Desk and Cabinet

61″x33″x29″, walnut, tamo ash, and birch ply

This asymmetric desk features a bookmatched solid top, long drawers and hanging file folders, an extendable keyboard shelf, and beautiful exposed joinery.

Here’s the whole set, including “Desk and Cabinet”, “Mahogany Chair”, “Beehive” and “Printer Stand.”
Surprise! The somber exterior is relieved by the whimsy of brightly-tinted tamo ash drawers.
Bright green finger joints in birch plywood.
Dovetails strengthen the solid wood carcasse while mitering helps the desktop seem to float.
A detail of gorgeous exposed tenons and under-structure.


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Printer Stand

16″x17″x24″, walnut, tamo ash, and birch ply

This solid walnut printer stand combines exposed joinery, modern lines, and a practical layout for storing paper and supplies.

Bright green dye adds a surprise to the dark walnut of the exterior.
A detail of dovetails and swirling wood grain.
Here’s the whole set, including “Desk and Cabinet”, “Mahogany Chair”, “Beehive” and “Printer Stand.”


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Mahogany Chair

22″x21″x36″, mahogany and faux leather

This arm-less modern chair is the twin of my Acacia Chair.  A light, practical chair, it was very much inspired by the design of Hans Wegner.

A sculpted back and buttery mahogany gleam really set this chair apart.
Quality faux leather is stretched over bent layers of oval plywood to make the seat.
The hidden mortise-and-tenon joint in the knee is drawbored with dowels for extra strength.
“Desk and Cabinet”, “Mahogany Chair”, and “Beehive”


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Bookmatched Table

43″x22″x19″, walnut

Coffee table made from a single board of Black Walnut. The top is “bookmatched” for matching grain pattern on both sides, and the shape of the top follows the revealed sapwood.

“Bookmatched Table”
From one side, it looks like it’s wearing little slippers.
Tops fitted into grooves in the cross-piece trestle and buttery walnut curves.
Even plain walnut grain can do wonderful things.

 


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Dragon Coffee Table

56″x22″x18″, Carolina cherry and mahogany

This sculptural table balances natural and rectilinear elements with a cantilevered structure.

The balance of natural and straight lines here is very much inspired by the work of George Nakashima.
Carolina cherry is a very rare wood to find in lumber stores; this piece came from a down tree through the Urban Lumber Recovery Program.
A rectangle adds surprise to the natural edges of the top.


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Moorish Necklace Box

10″x5″x”15″, walnut, zebrawood, and mirror

With a decorative latticework front inspired by Moorish designs, this box opens up like an exotic book of necklaces.

Handcut dovetails, curly zebrawood and a rare-earth magnet closure.
Necklaces hang from hand-carved walnut hooks.
A mirror on the inside of the front cover is a practical touch. The box can hang on a wall at head height or sit on a tabletop as shown here.

 


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Maple Island

44″x24″x37″, rock maple

This kitchen island has a butcher block top, sculpted legs, and a short apron to allow stools underneath.

The legs and apron are connected with joints technically called “double interlocking through tenons.”
Each leg features a different sculptural element.


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Dragon Chandelier

74″x40″x31″, walnut, red gum, and pendant lamps from EQ Light

Whimsical bent walnut and lamps like weird hanging fruit are offset by a rectilinear gumwood fixture.

The gumwood fixture ties into the craftsman-style built-ins, which are also gumwood.
Every angle transforms the chandelier.