Encyclopedia of Furniture Making


Book Description

An illustrated reference guide to furniture making, including material characteristics and properties, necessary equipment, techniques, and tips on component construction, veneering, marquetry and inlaying.




Carcass Furniture


Book Description

This inspiring compilation of carcass furniture projects offers practical guidance, with some refreshing and innovative approaches. Learn the tricks of the trade from established cabinetmakers, most of whom are professional furniture makers with a wealth of expertise to share.




A Cultural History of Furniture in the Modern Age


Book Description

Furniture is a unique witness to the transformations of private and public experience amidst the upheavals of the 20th century. How we work, rest and play are determined by the embodied encounter with furniture, defining and projecting a sense of identity and status, responding to and exemplifying contrasting social conditions, political and economic motivations, aesthetic predilections and debates. Assessing physical and archival evidence drawn from a spectrum of iconic and under-represented case studies, an international team of design historians collaborate in this volume to explore key methodological questions about how the production, consumption and mediation of furniture reveal shifting cultural habits and histories across diverse contexts amidst modernity. Drawing upon a wealth of visual and textual sources, this volume presents essays that examine key characteristics of the furniture of the period on the themes of Design and Motifs; Makers, Making, and Materials; Types and Uses; The Domestic Setting; The Public Setting; Exhibition and Display; Furniture and Architecture; Visual Representations; and Verbal Representations.




A Cultural History of Furniture in the Age of Empire and Industry


Book Description

The 19th century in Western culture was a time of both confidence and turbulence. Industrial developments resulted in a number of benefits from a growing middle class to efficiency, convenience and innovation across a range of fields from engineering to architecture. Alongside these improvements, the century began with the extended period of the Napoleonic Wars and was further disrupted by rebellions and revolutions both within Europe and in India, South America and other parts of the world. Slavery was abolished and urbanization increased dramatically. These myriad developments were reflected throughout the period in the proliferation of types of furniture, along with their categorization as 'industrial art' at the international exhibitions and world fairs and the increasingly adventurous range of materials that were sometimes used in their construction. Nonetheless, a strong antiquarian/historicist strand also prompted interest in the revival of past styles in areas of art and design, including furniture. Drawing upon a wealth of visual and textual sources, this volume presents essays that examine key characteristics of the furniture of the period on the themes of Design and Motifs; Makers, Making, and Materials; Types and Uses; The Domestic Setting; The Public Setting; Exhibition and Display; Furniture and Architecture; Visual Representations; and Verbal Representations.







Furniture Design


Book Description

Maximizing reader insights into the principles of designing furniture as wooden structures, this book discusses issues related to the history of furniture structures, their classification and characteristics, ergonomic approaches to anthropometric requirements and safety of use. It presents key methods and highlights common errors in designing the characteristics of the materials, components, joints and structures, as well as looking at the challenges regarding developing associated design documentation. Including analysis of how designers may go about calculating the stiffness and endurance of parts, joints and whole structures, the book analyzes questions regarding the loss of furniture stability and the resulting threats to health of the user, putting forward a concept of furniture design as an engineering processes. Creating an attractive, functional, ergonomic and safe piece of furniture is not only the fruit of the work of individual architects and artists, but requires an effort of many people working in interdisciplinary teams, this book is designed to add important knowledge to the literature for engineer approaches in furniture design.




Conservation of Twentieth-Century Furniture


Book Description

Conservation of Twentieth-Century Furniture provides comprehensive and accessible coverage of the materials and techniques that are encountered in furniture of this century. After putting the design, manufacture and conservation of twentieth-century furniture into context, the volume then offers an A-Z of materials organised into 12 chapters. Within each chapter a wide variety of material types are discussed, observed, analysed and contextualised, and a list of further sources is provided. The furniture discussed in this book ranges from designer craftsman, individually made pieces, to factory-produced batch items, and includes cabinet work, decoration, surface finishes and upholstery, observing the traditional repertoire of materials, as well as innovative materials and processes introduced over the course of this century. Following the material chapters, the book also includes brief case studies that illustrate some examples of twentieth-century furniture conservation, with a focus on metal, plastic and wood. Conservation of Twentieth-Century Furniture is the primary resource for those working on the manufacture, history and care of furniture of this period, including conservators, curators, dealers and collectors.




Utility Reassessed


Book Description

This collection of essays both defines and reassesses the concept of utility. In considering the place of ethics in the recent history of art and design, the text offers a way into the issues which concern design decision-makers today.The text presents topics such as the investigation in to hitherto undiscovered designs for a utility vehicle, it gives a perspective on the philosophy behind the concept of utility as a design theory and offers a critique of the dangers of good design. The text approaches the subject as a continuing history that has attempted to improve the human condition, through a process of rational thought in the construction of the material world. Using the history of Utility as a design theory, the text suggests ways in which the past can teach us something of the present, and reveals why, on the cusp of the new millennium, Utility is important.




Springer Handbook of Wood Science and Technology


Book Description

This handbook provides an overview on wood science and technology of unparalleled comprehensiveness and international validity. It describes the fundamental wood biology, chemistry and physics, as well as structure-property relations of wood and wood-based materials. The different aspects and steps of wood processing are presented in detail from both a fundamental technological perspective and their realisation in industrial contexts. The discussed industrial processes extend beyond sawmilling and the manufacturing of adhesively bonded wood products to the processing of the various wood-based materials, including pulp and paper, natural fibre materials and aspects of bio-refinery. Core concepts of wood applications, quality and life cycle assessment of this important natural resource are presented. The book concludes with a useful compilation of fundamental material parameters and data as well as a glossary of terms in accordance with the most important industry standards. Written and edited by a truly international team of experts from academia, research institutes and industry, thoroughly reviewed by external colleagues, this handbook is well-attuned to educational demands, as well as providing a summary of state-of-the-art research trends and industrial requirements. It is an invaluable resource for all professionals in research and development, and engineers in practise in the field of wood science and technology.




The Seven Essentials of Woodworking


Book Description

Woodworking fundamentals that are always important, whatever project is underway.