Fabrication

Chiuet.

Creating something with a minimalist style is harder than you think. It’s more than just stripping away superfluous decoration, pattern, and color. It requires that keen ability to create something visually balanced, visually appealing, stripped down to bare geometry and form.

Earlier today I had an email from a friend pointing me to this stunning table from Jay-Design. The Chiuet table is a masterpiece of balance, line, and form, abstracted from the shape of a pond or perhaps a water lily floating in it. The table top becomes both the shape of the pond and the lily, while the thin steel legs become the roots.

Executed in a high grade steel the table is at times almost invisible, especially in profile. The legs disappear beneath, creating a floating surface that appears to hover. Chiuet is realization of minimalist finesse, that is representative of his Asian aesthetic mixing nature and minimalism, in a deep black. No word on where to get this, or if it was ever produced. If I find out more, I’ll post an update.

“Carbon Lines” a Film By Darmon Moore, for EYE SYMMETRY.

Here is a wonderful little film from Darmon Moore that features some really nice editing, color grading, and cinematography. It tells a story about the craft of a handmade object with exquisite attention to detail.

In 3 minutes Moore captures what EYE SYMMETRY puts into each surfboard design and fabrication. The passion and dedication that makes up EYE SYMMETRY’s premium surfboards is put on display with a soft-touch and Moore’s artistic eye.

Olithas Concrete Furniture by Efrain E. Velez.

As everyone knows, I am a fan of furniture made from concrete, especially when the designer manages to take the material and create something that feels as light and open as furniture made from things like plastic. Austin Texas-based designer and architect Efrain E. Velez, has managed to do just that with the OLithas collection.

All Photographs: Alisa Marrow

Velez concept was to take the idea of using stone-like slabs and make them appear as light as waves. I think that this collection more than exemplifies that idea. Each piece consists of a high-grade finish concrete, that is formed into thin sheets. The underside of each is ribbed to add strength, lighten the visual appearance, and provide a structural mount for the thin stainless steel legs that support both the table and the benches. I absolutely love the refined finish of the concrete, and I am thinking that because it is concrete it can be stained to any color, which would expand the range of the product line.

According to Velez,the name came from two sources. The Greek word “Lithos” which means (Stone), and the Spanish words “Ola”, (wave) and “Olita” (tiny wave).