Kromme Mensa Coffea by Robert Wakeland is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Praemium A' Design Award Argenteum in Designatio Supellectilis Competition Category.
ArgentumSupellex· 2025
Kromme Mensa Coffea
Client: Nice Form
Praemium A' Design Award Argenteum Winner in Supellex Category
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- Verified Award Winner
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The Design
About Kromme Mensa Coffea
Inspirata schemate naturali fluctuum oceani, Mensa Kromme fascia unica laminati ligni utitur ad fluxum continuum maris symbolizandum. Omnino ex iuglande solida fabricata, partes laminati ligni conglutinatur frustis tenuibus in formam coniunctis ad curvam quasi sculpturam formandam. Fulcra minima ex aluminio fabricata adduntur ad robur conferendum. Tabulatum vitreum prospectum clarum venarum ligni subtus praebet. Mensa Kromme est enuntiatio sculpturalis pro iis qui supellectilem simul elegantem et functionalem desiderant.
The Recognition
About the Praemium A' Design Award Argenteum
Kromme Mensa Coffea victor est Praemii A' Design Award Argenteum, honoris eximie amplissimi formis summi generis, pulchris et conspicuis dati. Victores Argenti opera valde splendida et creandi ingenio praedita sunt, quae praestantem peritiam, talentum et acumen auctorum suorum ostendunt. Exspectatur Kromme Mensa Coffea opus mirabile, exemplare, valde professionale et penitus novum fore. Haec forma Argento victa inventum notabile et admiratum est, quod ad fines artis, scientiae, formandi rationis et technologiae promovendos confert. Kromme Mensa Coffea creatio est, quam multi invident, quae cupiditates excitat, sensus bonos affert et admirationem miraculumque movet.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Crafted entirely out of solid walnut veneer, the Kromme Table uses a very simple curvature to allow for a glass top. The veneer sections are laminated using 1/16” pieces molded together to form a sculpture like curve. Minimal supports crafted from aluminum are added for strength. The glass top provides a clear view of the wood grain beneath. The design is inspired by ocean waves, using one long strip of veneer to symbolize the continuous flow of the sea. A sculptural statement for those who want a piece of furniture that is both stylish and functional.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width 444.5 mm x Depth 1333.5mm x Height 355.6mm
- Tags
- Sculptural Furniture, Coffee Table, Bent Lamination, Curved wood, Solid Walnut Veneer
- Production Technology
- Due to the nature of how veneers are cut with a knife, not a blade, it produces almost no waste as opposed to a thicker saw producing about 40% sawdust. While the visible layers of the piece are straight grain walnut, the interior uses the less desirable sections you typically get from true veneer. Such as sap wood. Those were placed into the center layers which ended up creating very minimal waste.
Attention to detain when creating the form was the key to a successful and accurate production. The form used to create the molds was fixed to a flat surface using dovetail sliding joinery. It served as a perfect track and avoided any movement while clamping. - Design Challenge
- How to build this long flowing structure out of a single strip of wood was the main challenge. Steam bending was another option that was explored. However, you need to cut strips at a thicker weight to still maintain sustainability to some extent. And ripping 90 inch strips 4 times per section proved to produce too much waste. Thats's when bent lamination of thinner veneers was decided upon for construction.
- Research
- The initial concept of this design was inspired by ocean waves. I wanted to create a piece of functional and beautiful furniture that was constructed in a unique way. Hence the long single strips of veneer used to laminate the structure. You don’t often see bent lamination executed in this complexity. Which was part of the motivation behind this method of construction. Sure, joinery could have been used. However the result would not be the long flowing grain often seen in nature. One of the details that was important to maintain.
- Inspiration
- The goal was to create a table that was unique in both construction, form and inspired by nature. It was also important from a design point of view to be very simple, hence staying with one fluid piece of veneer for the construction. A finished piece that was just as bold as it is simple.
- Project Duration
- This project was started in July 2023 in New York City. It was executed and finished in upstate New York in August of 2024.
- Operation Flow
- The result is a sculptural piece of furniture that is as much of a conversation starter as it is functional.
- Patents
- © 2024 Nice Form LLC. All Rights Reserved.
- Team Members
- Robert Wakeland
- Image Credits
- All images and videos are created by Nice Form LLC.
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