George Nakashima developed a practice that, according to his daughter, Mira, features design and craftsmanship where wood, “should not be regarded as an inanimate object to be used only as a material, but another form of life which…’lives and breathes’.”  Franco Albini was more rational in his approach. Wikipedia suggests that “Mr. Albini merged Italian traditional artisanship with new forms of modernism through his contemporary furniture designs.”  Although he used raw, inexpensive materials in his creations, they were always exceedingly well crafted. His designs were both elegant and minimal.  Our goal was to merge these two styles by employing a rational, function-driven design process while at the same time respecting the ineffable, organic qualities of the wood and steel that make up the piece.

Vince Gillen supplied the beautiful handcrafted oak desktop.  Filip Zagreb at “Standard and Custom” crafted the elegant steel and Baltic birch ply casework.  Assistance with the project documentation was ably provide by Fisher ARCHitecture intern, Isadora Concha.