'Divergence' table19. Dec2011
NY designer Peter Harrison has designed and built a really cool hall table for those seeking a clean, modern look and excellent hand craftsmanship.
Known for his use of nontraditional joinery in fine, handmade, limited production furniture, the award winning designer has taken his work to a new level with the introduction of his latest design, the Divergence Table.
The Divergence Table is an evolutionary step in Harrison’s embrace of nontraditional furniture fabrication, as it uses an aluminum corner bracket to join the legs to the top. The bracket, which is hand fabricated from a massive block of aluminum, surpasses the complexity of traditional joinery. Although the Divergence Table represents a distinct step from Harrison’s previous pieces, it remains true to his aesthetic vision which celebrates materials and maintains a pure feeling that is modern without being devoid of details. 
The Divergence Table is 60” wide, 12” deep and 36” tall in standard form; custom sizes are available. The one piece aluminum corner brackets have a brushed finish, and are attached with exposed stainless inserts. The brackets define the table’s design plus complement the stainless steel cables and jet black Sapele hardwood. The cables are quite striking and can be found in many Harrison pieces as a key visual element. Specially manufactured for the rigging of sailboats, the cables are quite flexible, and will not kink. Each cable is individually attached to the table with a seamless aluminum fastening system that is simple yet elegant. 
Peter Harrison has been designing and producing art since 1996. His work has journeyed from one-of-a-kind furniture, to sculpture, to his present line of handmade limited production furniture.In 2007 he participated in the prestigious International Turning Exchange residency sponsored by the Center For Art in Wood in Philadelphia. He was awarded a NYFA (New York Foundation of the Arts) grant in 2001. In 2008, he completed a new studio just outside of Saratoga Springs NY. In 2009 he received an award of excellence from the American Craft Council.
Early on, and for largely practical reasons, Harrison set out to design some pieces that didn't have glued joints. But the new pieces, he says, "morphed into a look and a language that I like more than the work I was making before." Harrison's vocabulary expanded to include case concrete, stainless steel, aluminum, marine cable and various off-the-shelf and custom fasteners. In addition to speeding up the building process, Harrison says, "the interaction of different materials can make each element visually stronger."
Harrison keeps it basic with each material- using wood, concrete, and metal in elemental geometric shapes and their natural colors. The joints in most of his pieces consist of bolts and threaded inserts. Asked whether the curved stainless steel rods and marine cable serve a structural purpose, Harrison says, "Not much of one, but in my work the visual function is as important as the actual function. I try not to have any element there just because it is functional. Every element should be a harmonious part of the piece whether it's serving to support it or just to visually fulfill it."
See also:
