THE GIVING WOMAN

Furniture Design

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Taking inspiration from the Venus of Willendorf and ancient fertility goddesses, I designed a chest of drawers while taking one of my favorite courses at NYSID, Furniture Design. The deliciously feminine, personal, and self-reflective quality of a vanity is what makes this type of furniture so enticing to me.

 

I started the project by sketching voluptuous forms with unrestrained and ridiculous proportions, closely mimicking inspiration images I pulled. There were a few functional and aesthetic qualities I knew I wanted to incorporate, including a large mirror, a light that would illuminate the user's face, drawers for storage of personal possessions, and a lockable case for valuables such as jewelry. One element that arose unexpectedly during the process was a bench for sitting at the vanity. The piece felt incomplete without a matching bench.

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While refining the exaggerated forms and a tweaking the proportions, I knew I wanted to use my favorite materials: wood, particularly white oak, and metal. One of the biggest challenges was deciding what the legs should look like. Tapered? Thick? Thin? Abstract? I ultimately decided on a more slender form made out of iron that would curve, twist, and seemingly precariously hold up the body, almost like a stiletto supporting a woman's body.