Most woodworkers and Furniture designers have been inspired by or at least seen George Nakashim’s work. I have been an admirer of his work, and I became even more so after reading his book The Soul of a Tree. This coffee table is a direct inspiration for George’s work, and of course, I try to impart some of my style to it. The live-edge slab is indicative of his work, so that was my starting point.  If the slab I find has any opportunity to add a bowtie inlay across a crack, I will surely take advantage of that opportunity.  In the past, I have created a crack in my work to give the elusion and create an opportunity to do a bowtie inlay.

For the base, I wanted to create a lighter look than what George would have done. He often used large, thick, wide slabs as legs to support the top. Instead, I wanted to play with angles and curves in this design. So, all the legs taper out from the base to support the top. The base itself has two opposing curves.  The table’s width is supported by a simple arc for the legs to attach via a bridle joint.  Then, the length of the table is supported by a compound curve with gentle sweeps that link the back curve to the front leg.  I drew the curve in SketchUp using the Bezier Curve tool to visualize the final look before building it.
This Coffee Table has been built in our Colorado Furniture Design Studio.