LINEN FOLD TABLE

In 2010 Stretton was invited to create a piece for The Southern Guild, to be exhibited as part of the Joburg Art Fair. The response, The Linen fold table, demonstrates an ability to take highly conceptual thinking into a fully resolved product through an understanding of material and manufacture processes.

“I first thought about replicating drapes of fabric in timber to mimic and play on a night frill when designing a bed in 2004. The invitation from Southern Guild brought the opportunity to develop the thinking. It started as a table but once I saw the impact of the sculpted side, I realised it had to be taller. The tall, narrow, side table with slender legs adds to the elegance of the folded form. The manufacture is complex using a 3D CNC router to carve the solid timber panels and then a series of complex junctions to stitch the piece together.”

The linen fold is part of the permanent collection of KwaZulu Natal craft held at the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg.

Linen fold is a further development of ideas explored in ox-wagon. Proportion and shaping of timber components. The play of light on form. It is also inspired by monastic and church furniture.