Thoughts on Good Furniture Design

Recently a friend and I had a bit of a conversation about the toshi-nuki shelves that I recently built. He was concerned about racking, since the design of the shelves doesn’t include any kind of cross bracing. I think it’s a valid concern, and it’s something I considered when designing the shelves, but ultimately I decided I would forgo any kind of panel, bracing, or other reinforcement to keep the design light and open.  My vision for the shelf was for a more open airy shelf system, that would serve more as a display shelf, perhaps a few books, but could also hold plants, artwork, pictures, etc.  I would be more concerned about racking and the strength of the shelves if they were going to be loaded up only with heavy books or records, and I may consider some sort of simple solution to make that option available if a customer has that need.  

In any case, the discussion got me thinking about all the different considerations that go into designing something.  Aesthetics, construction methods, durability, material, time and price; all of these considerations are sort of intertwined and come into play when designing a piece of furniture.  Everyone has their own unique taste and inclinations, and I think within these categories we all have a tendency to put more emphasis on certain areas over others.  

Among the community of folks I know who are pursuing more traditional woodworking, the focus of their work often seems to be more so on construction method and joinery, with ideas of longevity and durability being driving forces behind those considerations.  Aesthetics is important but perhaps equally or less so than the construction. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum there are those who work in the design world where the priority seems to be design and aesthetics above anything else.   Sometimes the results seem to be furniture that is made not so much to be used but looked at.  I do see value in getting wild and crazy with designs to explore ideas, but at the end of the day I personally want to make something that is truly useable, comfortable, and designed and built to last.  

I know I’ve personally gone through a variety of phases through my own work, largely influenced by what my world was like at the time.  And through all those phases my focus has seriously shifted.  In a lot of ways I feel like I’ve been swinging on a pendulum from one extreme to the other eventually finding myself where I’m at now… hopefully a more balanced mindset.  

So what follows are my thoughts on the different considerations that go into designing/building furniture.  This is far from a complete discussion, and it’s also seriously subjective and opinionated so take it with a grain of salt.  But I think all of these factors are important both to customers and to furniture makers to think about and understand.  

Aesthetics

A well designed piece of furniture should look good, and if possible should help make its surroundings look good.  The question of what is good and what’s not is incredibly subjective, but it does seem that certain designs/styles seem to have more of a lasting impact than others.  I’m far from an expert on the history of design or current trends, but my thought is that a design that lasts is going to be one that is rather simple; not too flashy or showy.  The problem with trends is that they are just that, flashy and showy, trying to get the most attention now.  I think this is one of the reasons that Shaker and minimalist Skandanavian furniture has had such a lasting influence.  

As woodworkers, I think it’s easy to get sucked into the world of craft, seeking out new challenges and techniques, and sometimes that becomes the focus of the thing you are making. To the point that a quality design sometimes takes a back seat to the ideals of the builder. But the opposite can also be true, that in interest of a “cool” design, quality construction can sometimes be ignored.  Finding the right balance is the tricky part, and really I think you can only learn through experience. 

Durability

Furniture should be made to last.  It should be built to survive its intended use for as long as possible.  But really, how long is the big question.  I’ve heard it said on a few occasions that a piece of furniture should be made to last as long as the tree was old where the wood came from.  I think that’s a pretty reasonable concept, particularly from a sustainability point of view, and particularly when it comes to some of the more exotic or rare pieces of wood that come from trees that take ages and ages to grow. 

The reality is that we need a culture shift away from throwaway goods in favor of things built to last. That means durability not just in construction but also the design itself. As I mentioned above about design trends, if the visual appeal of a design has a short lifespan, then pretty soon people start looking for a replacement. I honestly don’t know how to design for the future, but it’s something I’ve started to think more and more about.

Construction methods

The issue with building something to last has a huge impact on the next considerations; construction methods, materials and price.  A chair can be built from cheap wood and simply screwed together for dirt cheap.  But it’s clearly not going to last very long.  On the other hand, a chair made with solid wood and strong joinery could last generations of use, but will require more skill and time to make, and will come with a higher price tag too.  How you fabricate a piece of furniture will directly impact its durability, looks, and cost.  And the decisions behind the construction method are often related to the materials.  

I have a leaning towards using Japanese joinery in my work.  I also prefer to use solid wood versus veneer/plywood.  A big reason behind both of those choices comes from a desire to use hand tools both for cutting joinery and finish planing.  Those decisions ultimately end up having a huge impact on the aesthetics of the piece.  

One big question when considering joinery is whether to expose or hide the joinery.  This is a tricky problem for those of us who are in love with craft, and want to make it clear to the customer and the world that we made a hand crafted piece of furniture using traditional joinery.  

I faced this problem recently when making some stools.  My original design, and the first couple of stools that I made involved using through tenons to join the curved stretchers and the legs.  On one hand I thought that a through tenon would be stronger because of the increased glue surface.  But at the same time I also wanted to show off that joint to make a statement that the stool used traditional joinery, and not something like dominoes or some other hidden connection.  But after seeing the finished result I felt that those tenons sticking out just didn’t feel right.  They were there for my own sake, but didn’t seem to serve the design very much.  So I made the next stool without through tenons, and I think the overall result is much cleaner.  

I think there is also a tendency among many woodworkers to overbuild. And part of that I think comes from wanting to make work that will be long lasting and durable. There really isn’t a lot of concrete information out there regarding the strength of different types of joinery, so most of us forge ahead by guessing and imitating the work of other woodworkers.  But there’s an easy tendency to over engineer designs for the sake of playing it safe.  I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing, and I’ve done it a lot in my own work.  But sometimes that overengineering can start to negatively impact the aesthetics of the piece, and requires a bit of toning down.  

Materials

When it comes to furniture, what materials to use is a pretty simple decision for me, and that is solid wood.  Great furniture can be made from plywood and veneer, but it’s not my preferred material.  I’ve cut my fair share of ply doing construction and kitchen cabinets, and while I do enjoy the speed at which you can fabricate a whole kitchen when using plywood, handling the material is kind of a pain in the ass.  Plywood is heavy, unwieldy to handle, and unless you have an altendorf, it’s not very easy to cut in any quantity.  Also in general plywood kind of precludes the use of handtools.

Solid wood on the other hand can be worked and shaped into all sorts of forms that plywood can’t.  And using solid wood opens the door to much more freedom when it comes to selecting and orienting woodgrain, carving and shaping different forms, and solid wood joinery options.  

But solid wood also moves throughout the seasons and changes in humidity.  So that requires additional effort to manage and to join different pieces in a way that takes wood movement into account.  For example frame and panel doors, that necessitate allowing the wood to float in the frame often with some sort of expansion gap on the edges, whereas a plywood panel can simply be glued in place for all of eternity.  

Time/Price

This is kind of a big one.  Unless you are a hobbyist, time and cost are always going to be factors when designing and building furniture.  There are those lucky few out there who seem to have customers who are willing to pay whatever it takes, but I’d venture to guess that for most of us furniture makers, we are trying to work within a certain price range/budget.  That means making tough decisions about all of the factors discussed so far.  It means having to draw a line on how detailed or clean things can be, and when to stop working on a piece.  Calling something good enough kind of sounds lazy, but when you’re working within a certain budget, sometimes that’s what it comes down to.   It’s often the case that you know you can do better, but for the sake of time and money you’ve got to move on.   

Ikea has kind of ruined people’s perceptions about what a piece of furniture costs.  Most customers don’t know how much more work it is for a small shop to make furniture compared to a giant like Ikea.  Really what Ikea does, and what I and other furniture makers do is completely different.  We are apples and oranges, but to many consumers they don’t see or recognize the difference, and when that happens the cost difference between ikea and and handmade piece of furniture looms large.  If a customer’s priority is price then I will gladly lead them to Ikea.  But for those who want something made by an individual, with all the potential uniqueness that ensues, then I’d love to chat.

As I said before this is far from a complete discussion, and I’m definitely still making sense of how to design furniture while taking all these concepts into mind. These are really my own thoughts, some more well thought out than others, that have been percolating in my brain for a while now, and I’m sure my opinions will continue to change. If any readers have any thoughts to add I’d love to hear them, it’d be great to hear how others approach these issues as designers and makers.

Thanks for reading.