This large table has received the 2009 Design Journal’s ADEX Award’s first place of a Platinum Award.

This piece was re-designed and refinished in late spring-early summer of 2008.

This large table had been sitting in a storage yard for several years, broken to pieces with lots of losses and hundreds of metal nails inadequately inserted. My guess was that this table was originally a very large size table possibly used by the painter or calligrapher.

Parts of the legs were gone. The ornately carved corner spandrels at the four corners underneath the table top were badly carved-this looked reproduced and did not match the beautiful carved beaded lines on the supports under the table top and between the four legs that made up part of the frame of the table. So, the corner spandrels were taken out to keep a clean look of the form and to also keep in line of the overall good workmanship in the woodworking of this table.

The wood panels inserted in the frame (a “Floating-Panel” construction) for the tabletop were not salvageable. So, they were replaced by the American poplar wood to keep the same finished color as the rest of the table, which is made of Chinese Cypress, Bai wood, a silky and light color softwood identified in the 17th century Ming Dynasty furniture pieces.

Originally there were narrow single-bands constructed all along the four sides of the table served as a ‘waist” area in between the table top and the supported wood frame that now joins with the legs underneath the table top. These bands were broken and were taken out in order to keep a good clearance height under the table to allow adequate room for knees to comfortably rest under the table when sitting, while the total height of the table does not succeed 30” in height to allow for comfortable dining.

The integrity of the original form of the table was kept as much as possible in respect of the history and the excellent material of the piece.

All the nails were taken out and replaced with wood pegs.

The restoration and the re-design of this table, which gave this object a new life, is a 2008 collaborated project between April Shen, the designer, and the long-time Santa Cruz local fine furniture maker, David Perry.

82 ¼” W x 35” D x 30” H

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