Thank you for watching my short film. Watch it in HD and with the volume up if you can. Please forward it to others who appreciate Interior Design and Furniture (or classic guitar). There is information about the table all through the credits to the end. See the Design section of SaturnDesign.com for more information about the table.
I created the animation by photographing the actual table from above in my shop. The table is composed of up to 24 leaves (plus a round Terminus for open shapes) that can be set on each other within a 30 degree range of arc. The smallest circle is 60" diameter, the largest is 90". It is 18' long and 30" wide as a straight line.
The legs currently can be adjusted to dining table, work table (36") and bar table (40) height. Other heights between those could be added. A couple of things to note that flashed by in the video. The legs can be attached anywhere along the outside arc of each leaf so they can be moved out of the way of (peoples') legs and feet for any particular top arrangement. It is not necessary to have a leg on every leaf. The table can span 4 leaves between legs. It is possible to have more than one leg on a leaf.
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Another Capstan Table Automatically Expands |
The possibilities for elegant use of this table are endless for residential, commercial, or yacht use. It invites creativity in its use. It allows elegant conformation to unusual spaces or shapes and invites the use of different shapes for different events in the same location. Its open geometry invites new kinds of center pieces and serving protocols. The Phoebe Table is the first of its kind and patents are pending.
People have asked why all the other guitar, drinking and non-table stuff is in the film. The answer is that this is not an advertisement. The film is a self-conscious work that was conceived and developed as a stand-alone adjunct to the table about this instance of the creative endeavor. I had the vision of the table dance itself set to the Bach prelude ( no. 6 in D minor WTC 1 BWV 851 ) a long time ago.
Part of creating the film, in addition to building the table and photographing all the positions was being able to make the music. That was its own artistic endeavor. It is a very difficult piece to play (for me anyway) and it took a lot to get a recording of it. It is not the best performance.
I have reworked the fingering several times since and can play a much better rendition now. At some point I will try to get a good recording of the new version and make a much more sexy "advertising" version of the film. But this film is about the work of creation as much as the creation itself.
The drinking thing was me channeling the late John Fahey. I meant to set up a tension between the 'sophistication' of classical guitar and an image of the booze swilling blue collar guitar player. The first impression is that surely the boozing player wouldn't be playing Bach. But those images are two aspects of the same person.
I don't drink hard liquor and certainly not that way. But that is how I look and dress when I'm working. This was a musical reflection of the table's creation. It is a very sophisticated piece, but its creation happened in the very blue collar world of my shop. I felt the need to express that as my reality.
Because of that reality, I have trouble letting the table go as a "product" disembodied from the creative process and the hard work that went into it. I understand all that is irrelevant to whoever ends up with it. They might see it as the sexy table they want to take home. The table does and will have its own 'life' independent of me. But I still think of it as those first few lines on a piece of paper. I just want to be remembered as its loving father.
I may not get another chance so I've taken the opportunity to acknowledge some of the people who have helped me out in my shop, Saturn Design, in Seattle. Most importantly, my wife Laura, has loved me and stayed with me through the trials of running Saturn Design and the considerable effort and time after hours it took me to develop and build the table, make the film and with luck, sell the table.
I created the animation by photographing the actual table from above in my shop. The table is composed of up to 24 leaves (plus a round Terminus for open shapes) that can be set on each other within a 30 degree range of arc. The smallest circle is 60" diameter, the largest is 90". It is 18' long and 30" wide as a straight line.
The legs currently can be adjusted to dining table, work table (36") and bar table (40) height. Other heights between those could be added. A couple of things to note that flashed by in the video. The legs can be attached anywhere along the outside arc of each leaf so they can be moved out of the way of (peoples') legs and feet for any particular top arrangement. It is not necessary to have a leg on every leaf. The table can span 4 leaves between legs. It is possible to have more than one leg on a leaf.
The possibilities for elegant use of this table are endless for residential, commercial, or yacht use. It invites creativity in its use. It allows elegant conformation to unusual spaces or shapes and invites the use of different shapes for different events in the same location. Its open geometry invites new kinds of center pieces and serving protocols. The Phoebe Table is the first of its kind and patents are pending.
People have asked why all the other guitar, drinking and non-table stuff is in the film. The answer is that this is not an advertisement. The film is a self-conscious work that was conceived and developed as a stand-alone adjunct to the table about this instance of the creative endeavor. I had the vision of the table dance itself set to the Bach prelude ( no. 6 in D minor WTC 1 BWV 851 ) a long time ago. Part of creating the film, in addition to building the table and photographing all the positions was being able to make the music. That was its own artistic endeavor. It is a very difficult piece to play (for me anyway) and it took a lot to get a recording of it. It is not the best performance. I have reworked the fingering several times since and can play a much better rendition now. At some point I will try to get a good recording of the new version and make a much more sexy "advertising" version of the film. But this film is about the work of creation as much as the creation itself.
The drinking thing was me channeling the late John Fahey. I meant to set up a tension between the 'sophistication' of classical guitar and an image of the booze swilling blue collar guitar player. The first impression is that surely the boozing player wouldn't be playing Bach. But those images are two aspects of the same person. I don't drink hard liquor and certainly not that way. But that is how I look and dress when I'm working. This was a musical reflection of the table's creation. It is a very sophisticated piece, but its creation happened in the very blue collar world of my shop. I felt the need to express that as my reality.
Because of that reality, I have trouble letting the table go as a "product" disembodied from the creative process and the hard work that went into it. I understand all that is irrelevant to whoever ends up with it. They might see it as the sexy table they want to take home. The table does and will have its own 'life' independent of me. But I still think of it as those first few lines on a piece of paper. I just want to be remembered as its loving father.
I may not get another chance so I've taken the opportunity to acknowledge some of the people who have helped me out in my shop, Saturn Design, in Seattle. Most importantly, my wife Laura, has loved me and stayed with me through the trials of running Saturn Design and the considerable effort and time after hours it took me to develop and build the table, make the film and with luck, sell the table.
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