Jonah Zuckerman/City Joinery

Tables, 2016

• Beech, 30" x 42" x 64" and 30" x 42" x 65 1/2"
• In rooms 217 and 317, Department of Applied Math

In conjunction with the new Department of Applied Mathematics building, the PAC commissioned Brown alum Jonah Zuckerman to create two custom tables from beech wood sourced from the site. Re-purposing monumental trees that must been removed to make way for Brown’s growing campus or due to ecological concerns has become a tradition at Brown. This practice originated with the Elm Tree Project—under the guidance of Visual Art Professor Richard Fishman—in which students from Brown and RISD created furniture and artworks from an elm that stood outside of the Watson Center at 111 Thayer. The elm had to be removed when it became diseased, and was repurposed in the name of education, sustainability, and memory.

Zuckerman makes use of the live edge of the wood in this and many other of his designs, creating functional pieces that remain intrinsically connected to the original form of their materials. Zuckerman has placed the live edge of the beech slabs in the center of the table, breaking the plane of the table’s surface. The resulting design reconciles modern and organic forms by opening the center of the table to create a visual reminder of the table’s origins, while simultaneously allowing space for cables to be run through it.