A "Star" of Sustainable design? Probably not.

My involvement in November's "Organism" project in the Empty Room is mostly about chairs. And design. And building. However, sometimes it will only enhance the project by providing tables on which to rest your favorite beverage, book or both. To that end, I've created the beginnings of what will be two small coffee tables. I've been a little under the weather the last couple days, but was able to work on these over the weekend. Both follow the construction technique I developed with the "Ark" chair. However, with these tables I've focused more on the overall pattern and shape in the fabrication process. The larger piece measures about 3-feet from each star point to its opposing twin. The whole piece is about 3/4" thick. This will be the table top, which will be paired with a set of thin, spindly turned legs. The fabrication of the larger finished piece was made by cutting about 300 (288, to-be-exact) individual diamond shaped pieces that have then been glued together, one-by-one. The smaller piece will be the same design, but feature a modified wood/grain pattern from the larger one. The woods used in the larger piece included paduak and red heart (alternating in the center), followed by a layer of honey locust, with the remaining encasing made of different varieties of walnut. The smaller piece is red heart alternating with canary wood, followed by a pattern of red heart and honey locust.

For those of you who are interested in sustainable design, well... this doesn't exactly fit the bill. However, I do have an olive branch of sorts to offer, since each of the diamond shaped pieces is cut from the scraps of other projects. So, I've at least found a way to work with what would otherwise have been waste in a process that embraces the spirit of sustainability, even if the underlying wood I used was not. I look forward to hearing any of your suggestions about incorporating other sustainable design and fabrication processes.