New Ideas from Old Stuff

In my living room, got a lamp and wine rack I made years ago. I like them.

With every project, once it’s done all I see are ways to do it better and production flaws. But I think with both of these, it’s about seeing how to make them simpler. They work well enough – especially the lamp as a lighting piece that isn’t hardwired that can plug it into the wall outlet – but while I like the Fibonacci spiral motif, you can use fewer bulbs and less math and still make something that looks good.

Same with the wine rack. This really is a bit too Keebler Elf. But I do like the idea of wine on the wall and plan to revisit the idea and play around with that more in the coming months, with simpler, more elegant designs. Just less.

Manhattan Clean Line

All this MCL stuff here is part of a previous project that started with the Media Rack and Kitchen Work Table in 2004, and ended with the Wine Rack in 2006. There were a few other pieces in between.

The Kitchen Work Table and Media Rack were personal projects since I couldn’t find what I wanted, and the Wine Rack was the last project that sort of ushered in the current GFC aesthetic.  Learned that it is difficult to scale up when making them all by hand on one’s roof.

All of the old content from www.manhattancleanline.com is now on here.

Wine Rack

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

First time working with a big piece of wood. So much sanding, so much planing. Danish oil, lemon oil, more sanding. Drilled all the holes with a handheld drill on my roof. Quite pleased with how it came out. I love the look of copper and cherry together. That is also the signature look up a number of upcoming Gowanus Furniture Co. pieces – all about copper inlaid in cherry. This piece to me though is a little too “Keebler Elf” – fond of it, but it could say more with less.

**Built summer 2006. Not for sale.

(aka Vino) [mcl – WRa – CC12]:

Is it too country for the city, or too city for the country? Neither! It’s just fine for both. In this case, the copper and cherry pair beautifully, though it is also available as aluminum and birch. Each style has it’s place, as some prefer Rioja and others Vouvray. Blending a modern sensibility with a warmer, more organic aesthetic, this wine rack lets you show your friends that your design sense has as much (if not more) finesse, balance, poise, and refinement as the Romanée-Conti you have in this rack. It takes cues from the likes of Bauhaus design, while infused with the likes of something a bit more mid-century and a bit more West Coast. This isn’t a soulless piece of furniture that one would find in, say, an airport. This is something to live with. In vino veritas, and the truth is that you need something like this.

*Other arrangements available with other wood and metal combinations in a range of sizes. [starting at $299.00, $475.00 as shown]

Coffee Table

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

An imminently rational – yet creative and clever – table, much like its namesake.

**Built Fall 2005. Not for sale.

(aka Jefferson) [mcl – CTj – 4×1]:

Narrow tables work well in, er, compact apartments. They’re all the more charming when rational and enlightened and understand important natural proportions (though this table is not without its contradictions – “natural” though it is, it probably wouldn’t care much for the agrarian lifestyle). The bottom shelf illustrates the the Fibonacci sequence, but is more than just graph paper…. (Yeah, it holds your magazines!) No, really! it illustrates the sequence and its recursive properties. The unpainted rods illustrate the sequence, while the black rods illustrate the recursion. A great gift for your nerdy friends.

Carrots not included. (Wait – you want carrots? Buy the table and carrots will be included….)

*Other sizes available [4’x1′ shown], with glass or plexi. [$399.00 as shown (with glass)]

Bed

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

Built for a client in Chelsea. By far the most popular piece I built, the problem is that it’s a tough thing to arrange in such a way that it’s easy to assemble by the customer. It’s also heavy to ship. Am fond of it, though – if interested in making your own, let me know…

**Built Spring 2005. Not for sale.

(aka Zeez) [mcl – Bz – FS]:

Get your mattress off the floor (or worse, off that press-board frame you got from some giant Scandanavian furniture-jobber)! Here’s a sturdy bed frame that will hold your mattress, give you a place to keep your shoes, and help you foster a warren of dust bunnies. It’s ever so sturdy and will stand up to nearly anything. Say more with less.

*Available for any size mattress. [$475.00 as shown (Full Size)]

Coffee Table

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

Built for a couple in the East Village who had the glass but wanted a new frame. Simple and effective, my contribution to the design was having the glass rest on the sort of butyl rubber stoppers you surely remember from chemistry class. You notice the black rubber under the glass just as you notice the aluminum fittings. Can’t miss either. I don’t think van der Rohe would have cared for this much at all .
You’ve also surely seen a Barcelona Table?

**Built Spring 2005. Not for sale.

(aka Barco) [mcl – CTb – 4×4]:

You need tables where you live. The powers that be would tell you you need these tables especially for coffee. You are welcome to use this table for that purpose, or in any other way you see fit. There’s a lot to be said about tables, especially ones roughly 4’x4′ with an “X” shaped frame, and plenty more will likely be said (some perhaps about this one, in your living room, with your dog nearby…).

*Any size available (so long as the length and width are the same – i.e. it’s a square), with glass or plexi. [$349.00 as shown (with glass)]

Bistro Table

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

Built for a client in Cobble Hill with a great porch. Funny story though about assembling it on my roof and then trying to get it inside. Actually, not that funny at all. No, not funny…

**Built Fall 2004. Not for sale.

(aka Fresco) [mcl – BTa – 2.5×2.5]:

Nice to eat out, but nicer to eat outside…. Perfect for four diners, some homemade sausage, a nice london broil, a bit of kielbasa, a few hamburgers, and wild boar ribs. Ok – with maybe a bell pepper stuffed with your leftover rice (they’ll never know!) from last night for the vegetarian. Gosh, that sounds tasty (the meat, that is). This table is quite the homage to the square.Albers would be pleased. Who’d have thought a cube could be so accomadating?

*Other arrangements available (glass instead of plexi). [starting at $325.00, $325.00 as shown]

Long Table

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

Built to fit in a nook in a bench we had on our roof (which also was where these photos were taken).  Perfect fit, great table.  Many a drink drank by drunks at that table.  
New + Bauhaus = Newhaus.

**Built summer 2004.  Not for sale.

(aka Newhaus) [mcl – CTa – 5×1]:

Simple table. 5′ x 1′, and a little under 2′ high so you can fit your knees under it. Sturdy, reliable, functional, looks good. Indoor / outdoor. Plexi supports arranged for both form and function – delightfully asymmetrical – thus the Plexi doesn’t sag.

*Any size, shape available, or with a second shelf below, or taller or shorter. Smaller for less. [$299.00 as shown]

Kitchen Work Table

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

This replaces a rickety earlier version (both of which gave some much needed counter space).
For all things culinary, there is only one Julia. Name influenced by my own romanticized and grandiose view that a good sturdy table is essential to good cooking, secondary though to passion and learning correct technique, however so acquired. Also key is eating everything in moderation, tasting all that you make, and knowing that life itself is the proper binge.

**Built summer 2004. Not for sale.

(aka Julia) [mcl – WTa – 2×4]:

It’s a genuine John Boos hard rock maple 2′ x 4′ butcher block top atop a sturdy aluminum frame. The frame (taking cues from Stickley, Wright, and, of course, Corbu…) lets you hang you pans from the rack underneath, put your stock pots on shelf when you’re not making stock, fit your always-useful standard size half-sheet pans perfectly in the upper shelf, and whisk your onion skins right into the bin with no mess. The block sits on non-slip rubber pads to maintain its integrity and allow the wood to change with the humidity (as it will). It also makes it easier to lift it off for maintenance and oiling both sides (if you want it to last a lifetime, as it can – and should). The feet are also adjustable, in the off-chance your current apartment isn’t perfectly level.

*Other arrangements available (2’x2′ for quite a bit less, or without the sheet pan shelf or bin assembly for quite a bit less, or with wheels for a little bit more – name it, maybe we can do it). [starting at $399.00, $725.00 as shown]

Media Rack

**From the old Manhattan Clean Line days…

Back when people used to listen to CDs, I had many, and built this to hold them.  Now a bit of an archaic throwback (and even when built, CDs were well on their way out).  I am quite fond of it though.  It currently holds CDs, as well as scotch.

Phi is φ, the symbol for the geometric relationship defined by (a+b)/a = a/b. Solve it and you get approximately 1.618.  This is the “Golden Ratio” – and rectangles with sides proportional to 1:1.618 and squares can be found throughout the piece. Nerdalilcious.

**Built summer 2004. Not for sale.

(aka Phi) [mcl – MRb – 2-1]:

The Golden Ratio is present throughout, it’s so aesthetically pleasing you can’t help but be drawn to it. It holds about 200 CDs and 250 LPs for easy viewing, with room to display your gewgaws and gimcracks on the glass. The frame is crafted entirely from aluminum, with 1/2″ glass for the shelves. You can tell your guests how you *didn’t* get it from Design With Reach or one of those cool stores on Wooster…

*Other arrangements available and can be made larger or smaller to suit your needs. [starting at $299.00, $725.00 as shown]