Anyone have any good recommendations for books on learning the elements of designing furniture? I am wanting to build a new entertainment center and none of the plans/models I have seen are what I want. I have an idea and a few rough sketches, but I would like to read a book or two to make sure that my design will work and be visually balanced.
I picked up Tauntons Design Book Two from the library ( just based on the title ) only to find out it was just photos of work, with no info on the design process – it was pretty, but not what I was hoping for, so I promptly returned it the next day.
1 – measure the board twice, 2 – cut it once, 3 – measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 – get a new board and go back to step 1
Replies
Rick-
This book is a great place to start. It covers all the basic principles of design and proportion. I have been designing and building for years now, and I still return to this book often. It won't give you plans for projects--it will teach you how to make your own.
Also, any of the Taunton furniture books:
These books are really hands on, and they do a great job of showing you techniques and ideas that you can use when designing and building other pieces.
Good luck
Peter
www.jpswoodworking.com
Thanks,
The Woodworker's Guide to Furniture Design looks to be the sort I am looking for.1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
A while back I was searching for the same thing. I wanted more detail than what the Taunton book provides. In particular I wanted to know the progression of design and styles through the ages. What is the difference between chipendale and whipplewithe, etc... The consensus was that there were only two such athorative books on the market and I believe that they are both well over $100. In fact I think that it was over $200. Probably well worth it, but too rich for me at the time, so I regularly go to used book stores and I have pieced togather a collection of books that lack the detail but still contain more information than I can retain.
Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
http://www.amazon.com/Furniture-World-Styles-Classical-Contemporary/dp/075661340X/sr=8-1/qid=1157713926/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2003513-0786233?ie=UTF8&s=books
Millers book is excellent and I agree with kaleo to look at other than wood. I love contemporary stuff and read Dwell magazine, Metropolis, Interior Design and others for refreshing ideas. The Furniture Society books are especially great ...http://www.furnituresociety.org 
http://www.cambiumbooks.com
http://www.woodworkmag.com is the better of the woodworking magazines...at least for me. Former charter subscriber to FWW.
"whipplewithe"...too funny!
Yea yea, I know its Wipple or Wiffle something... or is that the bat? Any way that book you linked looks really good. I can't remember very well because it was a year or two ago, but do you remember that ungodly expensive book I'm talking about?
The two inexpensive books I found are FURNITURE FACTS and The antique hunter's guide. Both give quick one or two page descriptions of the progression of styles from the the very begining to current styles. The furniture facts book seems to be an industry reference book and includes a lot of definitions and clairifications of terminology. I also like Dwell and Arch. Digest.
Pardon my spelling,
Mike
Make sure that your next project is beyond your skill and requires tools you don't have. You won't regret it.
Hepplewhite!!!! The Miller book is well worth the money. She's a noted antique expert with quite a few other books in print. The book I linked to covers a lot of style periods.
I know this is going to sound weird and might ruffle a few feathers here. But if you want to study design, then study all of design. Don't just focus on furniture and especially don't just focus on woodwoorkers. Study architects and ceramics and fashion other forms of furniture like metal work and glass work. Just don't limit yourself to one thing. The best designs come from inspiration from everywhere.
As woodworkers our designs are usally if not exact almost always closely related to great designer makers of the past. I would start with books, on Charles rennie Mackintosh, Frank Loyd Wright, Gustav Stickly and William Morris. Study the greats and take the inspiration from them and make whatever you design your own.
Kaleo Kala
http://www.kalafinefurniture.blogspot.com
Ricks,
I had the same experience as you and others did with the Taunton design book. More useful in the design process are Jack Daniels and Dave Brubeck.
Now that we have finished with humor and wisdom, let's get down to brass tacks. Studying the history of furniture design, or as Kaleo suggests, the history of design itself, is a lot of fun, and takes a long time. I would guess that a person with above-average intelligence could do it in about seven and a half years. That, of course, means that your entertainment center will not be completed until about the year 2013.
You need a slightly more efficient process. To me, there are two distinct aspects of design: 1) requirements = "What do I need it to do?" , and 2) "what do I want it do look like?" The first is taken care of by listing the things you want the entertainment center to hold and do, and figure out what sizes of "holes" and drawers, etc. that you need. That is straightforward, but not trivial. It does involve tradeoffs.
The second part of design, "What do I want it to look like?" can be worked in a very practical way. Go to a number of stores that sell entertainment centers and get copies of their catalogs. Then go to the web and Google "entertainment centers", and print out the ones you like. Now narrow the "designs" that you like down to about 5 to 10, and ask your wife which one she likes best. Now all you have to do is to modify that design to accomodate your "requirements". The most important part of "design" is to make your wife happy.
Using this approach, you will probably not get anything like what Krenov might have designed for you, but you can come up with something that fits the bill.
"Design" is an interesting thing. If you read Krenov or Frank Lloyd Wright, you see that they perfected their designs over a number of tries. Obviously this takes years or decades. That is not the approach to designing an entertainment center. It is easier and less frustrating to just modify someone else's design that you happen to like, than to try to "design" a masterpiece from scratch.
One time, while pondering the true meaning of "design", I fell asleep. I had a dream. I met Michaelangelo, and asked him. "How do you design such great masterpieces?" He answered, "Oh, I just use a standard five step process to designing masterpieces:
1) I dream up a great idea.
2) I sketch it up.
3) I fill in the details.
4) I stand back and look at it, and fix up any problems.
5) I relax and take great delight in my accomplishment."
I told Michaelangelo that I needed more specifics. I said that I admired his statue of David, and asked him how he accommplished it. He said, "It was easy. I just closed my eyes and visualized David. Then I got a hunk of marble that was the right size, and I chopped away everything that didn't look like my visualization."
I hope that Michaelangelo's advice is of more use to you than it was to me. But then again, it was only a dream. Later I dreamed that I swallowed a giant marshmallow. When I woke up, I couldn't find my pillow.
Remember:
To Err is Human.
To Anticipate is Design.
Have fun,
Mel
Measure your output in smiles per board foot.
Thanks,
I have a fair idea of what I want to build and what it might/could/should look like. I am looking for a book or books that will help me take my rough idea to a finished plan that will have correct proportion and look nice.
My plans, such as they are at this time, are for something about 7ft long, 2 - 21/2 ft high and 15"-17" deep. there will be a bottom row of drawers and above that open shelving for game systems and stereo/cable boxes. with maybe a low box/shelf raised up about 10" high and 18" wide on either end for any extra equipment and the speakers to sit on top of.
This should hold the current TV and accomodate the plasma/lcd TV we are thinking of getting in a couple of years. I would like to have it have a craftsman appearance and would like it not to look unbalanced or awkward. So I am looking for a book or books that will help me with this process. 1 - measure the board twice, 2 - cut it once, 3 - measure the space where it is supposed to go 4 - get a new board and go back to step 1
Ricks,
I don't know of a book that will help you build a Craftsman-style entertainment center.There are books, like Andy Rae's Taunton book that gives info on how to do case constuction. It is a great encyclopedia, but it just shows when different joints are called for, and how to join pieces and sections. That is actually a lot of great info. BUT it isn't "design" info, where design means "how it should look". Andy's book is basic to all styles. It show how to develop a structure which is structurally sound, regardless of style. VERY IMPORTANT. But you may already know that.You already have a layout based on a set of requirements. You probably already know how to do joinery. That means you can sketch out what you want in terms of lengths, widths and depths, and you can figure out how to do the joinery. Now the only thing left is to put the Craftman style into your design. In the days of the Craftsman style, there were no entertainment centers, so you wont find anything specific in the old books. However, the Craftsman style is characterized by the use of oak which has been "fumed", through tenons, etc etc etc. There are lots of books on that style. Borrow any one of them from the library, study it, and borrow the decorative styles. I wish I could be more helpful. To me "design" is like "management". It certainly exists, but it is hard to put your finger on in the way you'd like. That is why you are having so much trouble trying to find a book to tell you how to do it. You probably should look up "The Golden Rectangle" = "the Golden Ratio". It really works. Of course, figuring out how to take the general principles and apply them in a specific case is not as obvious as you'd like. I do find that most pieces of furniture that I think are beautiful are congruent with this principle, I am not always sure how to get from the principle to a good design. Maybe when you are finished, you should write the book that you would like to have used!! :-) When you come to a conclusion, please post the answer. I'd like to learn from you.Enjoy,
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Since you're specifically looking for Craftsman style, you might be interested in "Shop Drawings for Craftsman Interiors". No entertainment centers, but it is a good guide to authentic period details.http://www.craftsmanplans.com/Book%203%20TOC_4.htmBob Lang
http://www.craftsmanplans.com
Geometry of Design ISBN 1-56898-249-6
This is not strictly speaking a furniture book but it does cover elements of what makes a good design.
How to Design and Build Period Furniture ISBN 0-517-02263X
A very good book covering different furniture periods and has many drawings of the elements which make up that particular periods style. This is perhaps not as applicable as your current project but is still a good reference for details you may want to consider using. There is some argument but many believe most of what is considered classical furniture was based on Greek and Roman "Orders of architecture" Of you do a search on "Golden Rectangle" you will probably find many simple examples of how this works. You will also see it mentioned in many furniture design books and magazine articles.
Rodale's Illustrated Cabinetmaking ISBN 0-7621-0183-0
A favorite of mine which has a good basic description and drawings of different types of furniture with a list of book/magazine articles which show how to build variations of the basic design discussed.
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