Collection by Aaron Britt
WF Magazine Side Table
For our October issue we're celebrating the best in American design, so we recently got on the phone with Parsons-trained furniture and lighting designer Joshua Howe who spoke to us from his Hudson, New York, workshop about the new WF Magazine Side Table. "The idea is a simple geometric structure with pieces that can be added to it," he says of the steel-framed table. The modular system includes options for both a concrete slab to sit or store things on and a magazine rack. The tables sell for $2,300 and can be purchased through the Culture and Commerce Project in Hudson. Read on for a breakdown of how Howe brings the WF Magazine Table to life.
When it comes to pouring the concrete panel, Howe relies on a mold. Because he keeps the concrete quite wet over the course of making it, he reinforces it with welded wire mesh. "In concrete," he says, "the enemy to strength is excess water. But to get the marbled effect on the surface I have to keep it fluid."
The finished slabs can take on a couple different qualities. The one on the top left "has an organic feel to it that's more on the surface of the concrete," Howe says. "The one on the top right has more tonality throughout the thickness of the piece. I started off trying to make it look like granite. But now I'm trying out some controlled imperfections."