You asked.

Does it come apart or fold for moving?
The table, yes. Chairs, no. The tabletop comes off its base by removing eight stainless machine screws, the “butterfly” legs separate from the central beam and fold flat after removing eight more screws. The chairs, however, do not come apart so that they remain ridiculously sturdy, throughout their lifetime.

What size is the table?
27” High by 72” Long by 32” Wide

What is your thinking about the lower table and chair height?
Early on it was deemed important to scale the chairs and table slightly lower to better include the large percentage of persons under 5’4”, namely women and kids. Consequently, petite women delight at being able to sit in these chairs with their feet touching the floor for a change. I’m 6’, my beloved is 5’, and she loves the chair height! And our 6’4” friend Todd fits comfortably as well. Notably, accommodating children has been an important factor for a couple of customers.

How did this design come about? Like so many pursuits, it began with an idea that evolved in an unexpected direction, developing a life of its own.

A Vietnam vet friend once spoke of a single-page plan the military developed for a utility box made from one 4’x8’ plywood sheet, to be cut and assembled in the field as needed. When completed, only the box and some sawdust remained as all waste had been cleverly eliminated in the plan. Wanting to make some simple chairs, I was intrigued by planning from the start to maximize use of common 4x8’ sheet goods. Several months and an acceptable chair later, I tackled the design of the table, which took one entire sheet without waste! Then something in my corner of the cosmos aligned and I had the rare opportunity to work on Frank Lloyd Wright’s Seth Peterson Cottage here in Wisconsin, one of his final and most compact residences. Witnessing how Wright coaxed such sublime elegance from plain, informal materials deeply impressed me. This new insight inspired a vision for what my humble furniture could be. Now, after 30 years of refinements, much higher quality plywood, stainless hardware, and the addition of beautiful leather cushions, my table and chair set is at a point where I’m satisfied with the whole design, both comfort and aesthetics. It is deeply rewarding to build unique furniture that people want to include in their lives.

Is this a special wood material, environmentally friendly? And what about the finish?
This is very high quality plywood. There are 15 layers, laminations, in only 3/4” thickness —13 inner layers of birch, faced with two cosmetically perfect veneers of either CHERRY or WALNUT, and sometimes MAPLE. It is manufactured specifically for me for this furniture. Environmentally friendly, formaldehyde-free adhesives are used so it’s good for daily, indoor use. And the sealer was chosen for the combination of very high abrasion resistance, beauty, and ease of application without elaborate (expensive) spray equipment. All the furniture, cabinets and wardrobes in my house (over 22 sheets worth) are built using the exact same materials and coatings.

Are the cushions comfortable enough for extended sitting? Most definately! We use one of the chairs at our home computer. More days than I’d care to admit have been spent sitting for six, eight, or more hours in front of the time-suck machine (such as during the building of this website) and not once have we sought additional padding or a different chair. The foam slab inside the seat cushion is custom made to my specifications of several densities of foam, a configuration determined after much testing. The resulting cushions exceed my wildest expectations for looks, durability and especially comfort. Bring on the dinner parties.

Do you sew the seat cushions yourself? The leather work for the seat cushions is done by a reputable third generation leather supply and manufacturing company here in the Midwest. I drew up plans and had them make custom cutting dies for the top and bottom panels and they do a beautiful job punching out and assembling the seat shell. The foam inserts are custom cut to their final shape by hand to fit inside each leather “envelope.”