This coffee table was designed and built for an elective course during graduate school. It is constructed of solid walnut and zebrawood veneer on half-inch plywood. The square table is divided into four quadrants. with two solid cubes and two void cubes. The solid cubes have sliding panels which allow for the solid cubes to be used for storage. The void cubes are used to display objects.


This photograph was taken of a glue-up of the entire bottom panel of the table. The coffee table required over twenty separate glue-ups to ensure that the walnut frame and zebrawood panels were properly joined.

The walnut was chosen for its natural dark color while the zebrawood veneer was chosen for its contrast and linearity. These two materials were also fairly easy to work with, especially due to the fact that the zebrawood veneer was reconstituted and came in 24 inch by 8 foot panels which allowed for each panel of the table to be cut from one continuous piece of veneer.

The coffee table was designed to be large enough to be accessible from all sides in this seating arrangement, yet small enough to be able to comfortably reach across while playing a game. The ability to store and display items was also critical.