52 www.thedesignermagazine.com
Designing
with Metal
Furniture designer Tom Faulkner has worked
with many materials but metal is his fi rst love.
He explains how he strives to get the best out
of the creative potential it can offer
IRON
has been mined from the possible to work faster in steel than
Above: Tiffany Chair
earth for centuries, and would be possible in other materials -
Left: Ribbon Chair
was transformed into steel hundreds of timber, for example.
with chrome legs
years ago. My fi rst real experience of Of course, steel was very much the
Right: Opera table
working with it came in 1993 during a material of the 20th century. The early
search for new ways to support some modernists – architects and designers
table tops I had designed. I approached such as Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe,
a small forge in Wiltshire to make some and Jean Prouvé – made it their material;
simple metal bases for me and was they loved it for the opportunities it
instantly captivated by the strength and opened up for them.
versatility of steel – by its malleability Steel had hitherto been reserved for
and workability. It is an elemental, earthy industrial applications, but its availability
and honest material, and it can be for use in the manufacture of domestic
heated, beaten, rolled, cut and welded items was a watershed moment for
into the smallest most intricate shapes furniture design – an industrial material
or the biggest and boldest forms. From had suddenly come into the home, and
a manufacturing point of view, it is very would change the way people lived. The
attractive in that it does not split and it modernists not only embraced steel,
does not warp. but it also allowed them to turn their
When I started in metal furniture backs on ornamentation and clutter and
I had no formal training in furniture embrace the ‘detail and the fi nish’➔
design and so I relied to a great extent
on simplicity of line and proportion
rather than unnecessary or complicated
ornament, and the properties of steel
itself quickly came to inform my designs.
It has a very high strength to volume
ratio – the most slender sections can be
incredibly strong, and it is excellent for
creating clean crisp, lines.
When I started, I immediately wanted
to combine it with glass, so that the
shapes I was creating could be fully
exposed and appreciated. Steel also
combines very well with other materials
– we use a lot of leather in our chairs,
which is a very good, soft, natural fabric
to use alongside the hard, manmade steel.
Apart from the stylistic properties
and opportunities that steel provides, it is
also a very good material for producing
relatively low-volume batch work and
bespoke work, as we do. It is fairly easy
to work with. It has its own idiosyncrasies
of course, but generally speaking, it is
Tom Faulkner p.indd 52 22/7/08 09:24:51
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