From Inspiration To Reality

No one ever made or designed anything in a void, and everything that has ever been made drew inspiration from other things which the artist had already seen. Designing in this way is not the same as copying, which is the simple act of reproducing something that already exists. Sometimes the line between a copy and an inspired design is not so easily discerned. Sometimes we make changes just to make sure that the inspired piece is not an exact copy, and sometimes changes are made to suit the taste of the client.

Last summer whilst in the Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Köln, I was deeply attracted to this table and knew that it could make a lovely desk, but I also knew that it would need some modifications to be suitable as such.

A lovely rococo table found in the Museum for Applied Arts, Köln.

The first 'problem' is that the centre ornament hangs too low, and one would hardly be able to sit at it. the second problem is that the size is too small to serve as a desk. With these problems changes had to be made to the size and proportion whilst maintaining the look and feel of it.

I made a full sized rendering of the design in order to work out the size and proportions and to add the details for a drawer in the front as I posted in a previous blog episode.

Design for the desk, drawn full size

Once the design was done it was down to doing the carving and putting it together.

Getting pieces ready

After it was assembled it then had to be finished; first white, then gold leaf, then the real magic of applying a glaze to give both the white and the gold a nice tone.

After application of the gold leaf

Now all the is left is a leather top, but that is still on order so I will have to apply it later.

Finished desk, save for the leather top