The drawing sent by the designer initially had a large amount of dimensions and callouts that did not add up with each other. Neal Feay made it clear that it was up to me to figure out how to make the product as drawn, even if the drawing was not exactly possible.
The initial engineering phases consisted of sketches and prototypes to prove out the individual joints and connection methods. With the overall geometry of each part finalized, the components were individually modified for manufacturability within the Neal Feay shop.
One unique engineering decision on the coffee table was to design the base out of a crawfish pot. Due to budget issues and lack of a lathe in the Neal Feay machine shop, we were unable to make the base as desired from our machines. To prevent the table from being too light or echoing when accidentally bumped or kicked, we laid steel plates on the inside and painted it with vibration-dampening paint. The table currently sits in the Dior Soho offices.
