I’m looking for a book that discusses design elements that really elevate a piece of furniture, cabinets, built-in bookcases, etc. You know it when you see it, walking into a nice home, it just feels more ‘finished.’
Trivial examples: tapering table legs, adding a roundover or chamfer to table tops. I have a few of these techniques and am looking for the bigger picture on the how and why of fine carpentry.
Thx!
Fine Woodworking magazine may have some answers for you. As far as books go, you have to delve on furniture design books not so much woodworking. Eg. Tapers may very well be essential to some Japanese style furniture but not existent in a Shaker style. Personally i dont associate a roundover with elevated skill craft or quality on anything. Look at different designs such as shaker, mission arts, victorian, art deco, Scandinavian, etc. You would see the essentials design parts of each and incorporate those lines into the piece of furniture you are trying to create. Go on the wild side incorporate two or three typical design lines into your creation and make it your own. Myself i tend to mix mission arts, shaker, and greene & greene (generally known as Arts & Crafts) into my personal furniture. I like simple lines with the right dimensions but not so architectural as scandinavian style. Hope this helps. The only thing i can think of that elevates woodworking projects outside style is joinery with the right dimentions. Or in other words using the Greek design formula 1 : 1.6.
Two books come to mind:
The Impractical Cabinetmaker by James Krenov 1979
Essential Joinery by Marc Spagnuolo 2019
Also look up Sam Maloof and in particular his rocking chair. Make sure you look into the joint that connects the legs to the seat as they are strong, sculpted and complex. I made a three legged stool using those joints and that was a process.
If you would like to borrow either or both of those books let me know.
@JOSEGAYTAN That’s a very interesting mix of styles. Do you have any photos to share?
@David Thanks for the recommendations. I will check them out!
Not a resource, but a personal observation. I find that furniture can look more finished when the pieces tend towards being as slender as possible. I think it queues the idea in my head that it’s been designed well enough that the maker knew how far they could push the materials and still have it fulfill its function.
@David Is this the chair? https://www.sammaloofwoodworker.com/rocking-chair If you have photos of the stool, please share!
@stepho Yes, exactly.
A seminal book about universal desing principles is “A Pattern Language” byt Christopher Alexander.
It was published in the 80s and identifies 250+ principles that have informed design from cultures across the world - every continent. These design principles operate at every scale of the built environment: cabinetry, landscaping, building siting, streets, neighborhoods, and even cities. Alexander researched homes and communities from across the world to identify how people responded to the needs of people in all cultures and identifies principles that resonate with the human spirit - they just feel right.
Years later, Bill Mollison wrote a book in 1997 describing “Permaculture: A Designer’s Manual.” It’s a brilliant exploration of how building with nature offers lasting and timeless built environments in harmony with nature.
@David78737 Interesting book! And popular, too. APL has a couple of copies and a waiting list. Thanks for the tip.
There is a website selling what I assume are Maloof-inspired works, quite beautiful.
I inquired into prices and received this response:
The lounge chair and foot stool is $12,500 plus a $400 wooden crate for shipping
And the Hueter chair is $14,000 plus a $400 wooden crate for shipping.
We would estimate the shipping cost to 78701 to be around $800 per a crate.
How do I get into the crate making business 
Sorta on topic, I want to get better at drawing ideas as I am incredibly bad at sketching from my imagination. I tend to jump straight to CAD which limits my creative freedom due to my limited skill, as well as the relative difficulty of iterating on ideas there. To that end, I’m gonna try to buy a book about getting better at drawing and seeing where that takes me. I chose How to Draw: drawing and sketching objects and environments from your imagination by Scott Robertson and Thomas Bertling, so we’ll see how that goes
Going by the address and town, i belive that used to be his shop before he died. The prices are about what he used to charge with the exception that he was mostly into rocking chairs that commanded a hefty price of 10 to 25 g’s. At the time of his death he had around a ten year waiting list for rocking chairs. His employees and family continued his legacy. Some of his chairs took him years to finilize and some where just his experiments with design and functionality. If you have time, dig out some videos in youtube where he cuts parts for chairs on a band saw. The man was amazing in the use of the band saw. Passionate about his craft and not afraid to share his knowledge and experiences.
Tage Frid is another master furniture designer and maker whom you would benefit greatly from investigating. He has several books of furniture design and construction and you can find some videos of him on YouTube.
I have a few of the Christopher Alexander books if you would like to borrow them.
A Pattern Language has been described as the precursor to “the gang of four book” Design Principles, which I assume you’re familiar with. I don’t think it will be of value to you, it deals in larger scale construction/organization of humans in space.
The first book in that series is “The Timeless Way of Building”, it makes the case for the need for “A Pattern Language.” I do recommend you read that. It won’t teach you much about building.
