EXPLORATION IN BIRCH
ADAM CLIFFORD
Growing up in Colorado and now living in New York, I have become fascinated with relationship between the wild and the industrial. As the human population grows and wild spaces become less abundant, we are going to have to learn to coexist with nature in a much healthier way. This project aims to show how the organic and the refined can not only exist together, but form a beautiful, harmonious partnership.
THE GOAL
THE SCONCE
The sconce seeks to showcase the relationship between birch and glass, with light being the thread that weaves the two together
THE TABLE
This side table shows the journey of a tree becoming a table and begs the question: which is more beautiful, the untouched or the refined?
THE LAMP
The Lamp is an act of negotiation. I once heard that a great designer is, above all, a great negotiator. You have your intentions, and the material has its own. My role as a designer is to find the balance between the two. In this piece, I pushed the material beyond its usual limits by steam-bending it with the bark still intact. Bending wood is negotiation at its finest—listening closely, applying just enough pressure, and knowing when to stop before it breaks.