The request that resulted in the sycamore veneer Nautilus table was very open, says furniture designer and builder, Marc Fish. The client wanted "a large statement piece, with maybe a hint of the sea - its location being a large loft style apartment overlooking the English Channel."
Fish is one of the wood world's eminent makers and designers, working from his Robinson House Studio on Newhaven, in England.
For the featured project, he was inspired by a nautilus shell - wondering what it might look like inside - and Fish soon found out. He designed the Nautilus table based on the shell's interior structure. Another seashore inspiration was the Mollusk table.
A regular commentator, Fish writes for
Furniture & Cabinetmaking magazine, and readily shares his works in social media. He also started teaching, after identifying a need for high quality cabinet making education. Classes range from weekend "tasters" to two-year programs.
Marc Fish
Having followed the traditional apprenticeship route when he was training, Fish has avoided large class numbers, and lack of personal attention that goes with traditional technical trade education. For this reason he personally trains only small groups of furniture making students. Visiting lecturers include Richard Williams of Richard Williams Furniture, also a winner of the Claxton Stevens Award, Rod Wales of Wales and Wales and Charlie Whinney, steam bending guru of Charlie Whinney Associates.
"An open brief from the client is every maker's dream - room to explore, experiment and innovate. A new technique was developed to turn 4000 pieces of veneer strips into a 10 mm thick logarithmic spiral."[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"media_original","fid":"81111","attributes":{"alt":"","class":"media-image","typeof":"foaf:Image"}}]]
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