on the design process and Lara’s experience working with Ian

This design process started with a kitchen remodel. Knowing I would be losing cabinet storage, I needed a place to store my china and thought a sideboard in the dining room would solve my storage needs. After spending several fruitless months trying to find a piece that was large enough and would complement the existing décor, I approached a cabinet and furniture maker I knew to produce a bespoke piece. He fortunately had the good sense not to use the design I created and instead introduced me to Ian who would be designing the sideboard. Ian explained my design was insufficient to support the size required for my storage needs and kindly withheld his opinion my design was crap until we were better acquainted. From the beginning, Ian wanted something rich and grand, and I remember ebony as one of the early wood choices. The physical design of the sideboard remained the same from the beginning: a giant box suspended between 2 end supports. He explained this served the weight demands such a large piece created, but it also has an elegance and lightness that fit well with my relatively small and dark dining room. Ian then directed me to a web site that had wood samples and we began a back and forth about options. Choosing the materials entailed ordering samples to review in person and ensuring the remainder of the stack appeared the way we expected. I had never been involved in the pre-production process and was surprised by the degree of planning needed. Each sheet of veneer was carefully selected, and we dismissed some early choices because the range of cuts available departed too much from the sample visible on the website. Once the wood was selected, Ian took over the design process and I remained uninvolved until the final product was delivered. It is a spectacular statement piece. It also looked terrible in my dining room which unfortunately appeared crowded and fussy. After a period of mourning, I approached Ian about redesigning the dining room and building a new table and chairs. But that is another story.