A Live Edge dining table is the perfect accent for your country, shabby chic, or naturalistic interior design. Live Edge tables use the natural edge of a woodcut as the table edge or the wood grain as an important part of the table setting. They are often made from the center cuttings of huge trees and can even hold back the bark on the edges.
Also, using the natural swirls and shapes of the wood grain itself can produce amazing artistic results. With some tables, the designer can use a natural gap or connect two central tree tops and fill the space with acrylic resin. This section of fill can be converted into a representation of a river, especially if the nodes are additionally filled with acrylic to represent smaller bodies of water. The central strip of resin can be a different color. A very beautiful live edge table from India has a dark resin center that joins the natural edges of two pieces of rosewood. The cut edges of the panels are outside of the tabletop, resulting in a milled outer edge.
George Nakashima was famous for using live edge wood and natural knobs. Although a natural citizen of the United States, he was interned in 1940. In the detention center he met Gentaro Hikogawa and learned woodworking from him. In 1943, Antonin supported the release of Raymond Nakashima. George Nakashima then designed furniture for Knoll, including the straight-back chair (a design still in use today) and 200 pieces for Nelson Rockefeller.
His most famous pieces were tables with living edges, known as “altars to peace”. Nakashima hoped that by installing an altar of peace in every country in the world, the world would become a better place.
Mira Nakashima carried on her father’s legacy. The Nakashima company continues to produce beautiful furniture and create altars of peace. Perhaps your Live Edge dining table can become your family’s altar of peace. Of course, dining tables are often the focus of family activities, where everything from family meals to homework gets done.
