Remade Bistro Table
Client: Global Design and Innovations | Starbucks Coffee Company
Project: Heritage Design Pilot Store | Concepts Development and Prototyping
Duration: 8 Months (Development through roll out)
BACKGROUND:
My first commission from Starbucks was to develop a series of sustainable wood and metal finishes to support the aesthetic direction of the Heritage neighborhood store concept. This came about because of two fundamental intentions of the new concept. The first was to concentrate on sustainable design as this would be the first Starbucks store to make an application for LEEDS certification. The second was to employ local artists and craftspeople to capture the character of the surrounding neighborhood. Heritage design was so named as it was intended to evoke the warm heritage of the original Pike Place Market store through its rustic and time-worn aesthetic.
One of the early plans was to furnish much of the first concept store with vintage furniture. But the supply of specific pieces was too limited and costly, so instead I was further commissioned to distress and ‘age’ new bentwood chairs and Lyon shop stools. As store design progressed our scope increased and included prototyping a Roast Story Display, remade bistro tables, steel bases for the first sit-here-bar, and a side table for the Heritage line. All were fabricated with recycled and/or reclaimed materials. All of the refinishing and new finishing work was done using non-toxic bio-based finishes.
Two weeks before the grand opening we were asked to step in and fix a major problem with the bar panels. The intentionally uneven and character-rich reclaimed woods that were the focal point of the store, had mistakenly been thickness sanded until flat. The walnut, oak, and teak boards were then sprayed with corresponding opaque walnut, oak, and teak-colored commercial stains.
We were already working to deadline on the Artisan Design concepts launch at University Village but jumped the job to the front of our schedule. I began by mechanically stripping about 125 square feet of material. I then distressed and hand-worked each plank to again look and feel organic and worn. I let the now flattened remnants of original character and figuring inform my work. I reopened much of it by wire brushing and rounded or razored out anything that could lift or snag. When I finished, the woods looked authentically rough and time-worn again but were smooth and safe to the touch.
Since the panels were comprised of three hardwood species, I tinted oils specifically for each wood to enhance and deepen their characteristic colors. But first I wiped a dark natural pigment over each panel to augment all of the newly restored character. I then lightly sanded each panel again to reopen the grain. That was followed by hand-rubbed oiling and buffing. I oiled and buffed twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, for three days. Panels were then left to cure for two days. We delivered the refinished panels, dry to the touch in just seven days total. This allowed one week for them to be trimmed down and installed with time left to hard cure in place. The store opened as scheduled, and we met our deadline for the Artisan launch.
As an aside, Heritage was just the first of many neighborhood store concepts, but sustainable design and employing local artisans and craftsmen has remained at the core of Starbucks’ much-heralded design renaissance, which has continued successfully for well over a decade.
