Merced County Office of Education – Office Furniture
The Office of Education in Merced County California (MCOE) had purchased and renovated an old Art Deco bank building and Steve Tietjen, the county superintendent, was charged with purchasing some of its furnishings. In talking with Steve, we learned that the building itself inspired the new office design. We had Steve send us photos of any architectural elements of interest, in hope that they might inform the design of the furniture we were to make. Those photos revealed a repeating pattern throughout the building; a curved chevron. This detail was the perfect element to incorporate into the furniture.
Upon completion of our design work, the table bases echoed this element, while the table surfaces displayed gorgeous book-matched walnut boards. Even the chair frames took inspiration from the architectural detail – and have since become our highly popular Herron chair. And while we borrowed from tradition to create the art deco lectern; we customized it by emblazing it with MCOE’s logo.
Oconee Executive Workstation
Our newest piece in this custom collection was designed to pair with the client’s Grand Lily armchair. The curly maple will dance as the light shines through our clients windows – fusing form and function in a way that hopefully increases productivity and enjoyment in the same space and time. Read more about it here.
Foyer Table
Given total freedom other than scale we let the whole table echo the curved chevron form, making a perfectly fluid base.
Reception Desk
For this piece, we followed the architect’s general suggestion for size and shape and specific directions regarding allowances for electrical access. For the surface design, we let the wood have the solo performance on this one.
Conference Table
For all three conference tables we followed the specifics of size only, we had plenty of artistic freedom to play with the bases on these tables. The shape of the pedestals echoes the architecture of the building adorned with the maple chevrons.
Lectern
After designing the tables, Steve asked for a lectern and to put the MCOE logo on the front. We decided to go with a pierced walnut veneer exposing the dyed curly maple underneath. The curved base intends to accentuate the speaker’s presentation.
