Design Minutes
Exploring the timeless elegance of custom-made furniture and interior décor
Design Minutes is where we share what we know about custom furniture and interior design. The articles below cover the principles and practice of residential and commercial furniture, with real examples from our projects. From living room and dining room furniture to office receptions, hotel lobbies, restaurant furniture projects, and hospitality contracts, we share our perspective on the custom furniture and luxury furniture scene from our workshop in Brooklyn, New York.
Luxury Hotel Furniture Ideas for the Lobby Area
Designing the hotel lobby area rests on the cross-integration of many aesthetic principles and functional considerations. In this article, we stop to appreciate luxury hotel furniture as the cornerstone of elegant, sophisticated, and comfortable venues.
Best Restaurant Tables: Trends, Ideas, and Design
Join us as we explore the leading trends in hospitality, with an in-depth overview of the best restaurant tables. Comparing styles, materials, and finishing options, we embark on a journey to unveil the future of luxury restaurant furniture.
Redefining Luxury: Personalized Furniture with Custom Upholstery Ideas
Custom upholstery design creates a new frontier where architects and interior decorators get to explore innovative and sophisticated furniture ideas. This article discusses some of the emerging trends, with clear directions on how to incorporate each towards personalized furniture design.
Creative and Elegant Solid Wood Dining Table Ideas
Elegantly designed and handcrafted to perfection, the hardwood dining table is a sight to behold. In this article, we stop to appreciate some of the most creative solid wood dining table ideas, as we compare various tabletop concepts, base options, and finishing techniques for different wood species.
Stylish and Luxury Hospitality Lounge Ideas for Your Space
We explore the world of luxury hospitality, where style, comfort, and exclusivity blend in unison. From the lounge furniture layout to outdoor spaces and high-end upholstery, we discuss the principles behind the hospitality lounge ideas that shape some of the best luxury venues.
Designing the Modern Waterfall Dining Table
In this article, we explore the design principles and manufacturing techniques behind the elegant cascade of solid hardwoods. The modern waterfall dining table is the focal point of any interior layout, displaying timeless elegance and stylistic continuity with the natural forms from which it borrows.
How to Choose the Best Restaurant Chairs – Comprehensive Guide
The restaurant chair is a staple of fine dining, offering stylistic variety and exceptional flexibility in how venues arrange their layout. This lengthy resource compares materials, styles, and functional considerations for choosing the best restaurant chair, with both confidence and ease.
Upcoming Trends in High-End Commercial Furniture Design
High-end commercial furniture is a versatile category where designers champion durability and ergonomic principles for a stylish and health-conscious office environment. This article highlights sophisticated and creative commercial space design ideas that elevate the layout through visual consistency and stellar craftsmanship.
The Best Sofa Materials for Custom Upholstery Projects
From framing integrity and spring support to padding, fabrics and stitching, we explore the best sofa materials involved in upscale furniture production. Discussing the interplay between technical and aesthetic excellence, we analyze materials for bespoke sofas and luxury upholstery furniture.
Ergonomic Lounge Chairs: Aesthetic and Practical Considerations
The modern hospitality environment demands more than aesthetic appeal. With seat comfort and visual finesse paired together, the ergonomic lounge chair is a continuation of evolving design principles, guaranteed to elevate the space it inhabits.
Conference Room Furniture That Makes Meeting Spaces Effective
Conference room furniture should unite comfort, timeless elegance, durability and style. These are the principles that govern extraordinary meeting spaces, elevating them to exceptional aesthetic appeal.
Reception Area Furniture for Sophisticated Spaces
Reception area furniture must represent hospitality, elegance and sophistication. In this article, we discuss the principles behind designing the waiting room, touching upon furniture selection and placement.
Coffee Table Design – History of Practical and Aesthetic Evolution
In this exciting write-up, we explore the evolution of coffee table design. Analyzing different types of coffee tables, we trace back the entire trajectory of this timeless furniture item.
Ideas for Live Edge Tabletop and Base Design
The live edge tabletop is an artistic expression of fine craftsmanship. In this article, we discuss design ideas for pairing the wooden slab with a matching base, achieving aesthetic savoir-faire, and creating a product of timeless elegance.
Manufacturing Epoxy Resin River Tables – Guide by SENTIENT
Epoxy resin river tables are the epitome of luxury design. In this article, we walk through the process of wood selection, resin preparation, and craftsmanship techniques behind one of the most iconic pieces of custom made furniture.
Live Edge Table Maintenance for Luxury and Durability
In this comprehensive guide, we are talking about live edge table maintenance. We consider different materials, finishing options and environmental factors that might impact the longevity and appearance of your favorite furniture item.
Banquette Seating Arrangement – Variety in Style and Function
The banquette seating arrangement dictates the overall aesthetic narrative of hospitality establishments, lobby areas, and dining venues. This article will establish the guiding principles for designing the banquette seating layout, with additional ideas for style and functionality.
A Guide to High-End Hotel Room Furniture by SENTIENT
Exploring proven design principles for decorating the guest room. This article considers form and function when selecting and arranging high-end hotel room furniture for comfort and sophistication.
Wooden Outdoor Furniture – Practical and Aesthetic Ideas
Furnishing the outdoor lounge is a serious design project. This article shares practical and aesthetic principles for choosing and arranging wooden outdoor furniture for making a timeless statement.
Restaurant Furniture Layout – Guide for The Upscale Venue
The restaurant furniture layout dictates the guest experience, from practical implications to aesthetic appeal. This guide highlights some of the established principles for choosing and arranging commercial restaurant furniture, upholstery and banquette seating.
Beauty And Meaning
The beauty in ife is the meaning we bring to it, the creative languages, nature, those we support and those we love. Beauty is the salve that vacillates our longevity, supports our will, shines a light for waning hope.
Creating Beauty And Finding Meaning
The striving to do better and to be better is a process of discovery, a curiosity of finding what satiates the mind and body, regulating emotion during the ups and downs of living life. It is within this process of seeking that we learn who we are, matching thought and emotion with doing: creating beauty and finding meaning.
What Matters
In the thick of adversity, one finds what matters, what uplifts and brings us to a place of clarity that eases the way forward. This profundity sheds light upon our darkest times, allowing us to see through the fog of mind and emotion, smoothing the truths of reality so that we may best move on. It is through times of hardships that we find who we are, where we see our strengths and better our weaknesses. To be still within the midst of beauty, be it nature, words or the hand created, provides us with the deepest opportunities of respite and resolve: pulling deep the intuitive universe within.
Intimate
The evidence of the hand in creativity cannot be fully replicated, in fact it is expanded by the story of the maker, how they create and why. In this world of the instantaneous, the depth of the maker’s story brings a level of intimacy to the already physically intimate object, a connection of hand, eye and emotion.
Living
Within an architectural building are spaces divided, filled with objects layered with memories, some of utility and others of pure beauty. It is here in these cubed spaces we build our lives, defined by language and deepened by emotion. Our ways of living are intuitive, brought from the gut and our traditions of history. When we are mindful, we know what brings us joy and expand upon it, smoothing our passing forward. Life is difficult, our time here, finite, to create change and beauty as life allows builds lasting results for generations to come.
Choice Of Simplicity
Naming clouds and their shapes are a forgotten favorite, left to childhood pastimes and memories of a slower and simpler time, or seemingly so then. There is a forgotten simplicity that we unwittingly left behind, forsaken for the hopes of the new, complex and the quick. We know of what we’ve lost, its residue is still upon our lips, now only spoken of fondly as if unretrievable, as if because time moves forward we cannot look to the past, salvaging what we need.
Natural Creation
The influence of nature over all we create is profound, sometimes obvious, often subtle, floating up from our subconscious mind and deepest intuition. We create from which we are born, that which encompasses our DNA, filtering through our pores and escaping through our nightly dreams. All that we create is somewhat autobiographic, what we see and experience is a part of us, as we consume and then expel.
A Rising Tide Raises All Boats
Life behaves very much like water, it can be still and deep as night or thunderous as a Summer’s storm. We live in difficult times and seek out the opposite, the calm within the storm, solace within our homes. It seems as though we have little control, except for our selves and how we live, what we surround ourselves with, and whom.
The Complexities Of Beauty
An object, whether a bowl or painting is not separate from the interior where it’s placed, nor separate from the language used to describe, and most certainly not from the person experiencing it. There is a thread that ties person, place and thing and even language, and that is emotion. We are emotional beings, which is why beauty has its place within our lives, instinctively we are drawn, pulled, deep from the gut.
Nature And Human Kind
Human kind and nature are both part of the same life affirming system, both inspire by way of beauty and awe, mystery and innate determination of will. We share the same space and oxygen, while communicating deeply with our own language, nurturing our ailing neighbor as we nurture our selves. To the winds of change and adversity we bend and sway, reaching for light, change within the patterns of seasons.
The Experience Of Color
The world is a menagerie of experiences, full of beauty, wonder and even at times, overwhelm. One of these experiences, is color. Color can be experienced sparingly in a minimalist painting or a valley of poppies lavished in splendor. We are identified by the color of our hair, eyes and skin and enhance them by the colors in our clothes. Color can dominate our attention or soothe when we are in need, it can make us salivate or bring tears to our eyes.
Memory
The items we choose to collect hold memories of time, reminding us of our past while inspiring days to come. They support us in their utility and ease us in their beauty, heirlooms to the future coming.
Creative Minds
Often I think about the work of creative minds, those who create physical work but also those who create with words. The creative mind inspires creative deeds, what has been created is not in fact in and of itself, it impacts those who use it, those who view and consume. The creative efforts of many, push the will of the mind and uplifts the spirit of mood, easing the body forward, moment to moment. We are biologically attuned to beauty and continue to build our world within it, while simultaneously trying to save it. We are creative beings, living in a created world.
Presence
Being present takes a willingness to see what’s around us, the simple and complex, the beautiful and the ugly. Seeing what’s in front of us guides us to what’s to come, opens us up to reality, to what’s possible. By being present we see our choices more clearly, we see and create beauty, building what we wish to see around us and in the future.
If It Brings You Joy
If it brings you joy, go there, run.
We are living in very difficult times. I am tired of writing that but there it is, here we are and perhaps sadly, for awhile. I don’t like writing this nor do I like the way it makes me feel: frustrated, worried and even sad. My hope wanes. My good intentions seem to fade beneath the noise of media and my overactive brain that tries to keep me safe. I continually go back to what’s familiar, the traditions of family, the objects that I collect, my creative work, all the things that bring me joy .
The Little Things
To take time and see the little things with gratitude is paramount in our fast pace lives. These days with physical distancing in our homes, this is the perfect time to do so, to appreciate all that surrounds, the people, the things we cherish and the memories we hold dear.
Kaleidoscope Of Possibilities
We have the potential, each, to create the possibilities of change. From the darkness of yesterday comes the light of tomorrow if we so choose, if we keep moving, editing and asking questions. From the spiral down, comes the spiral up.
Trees
We learn a great deal from trees with their network of roots, limbs that stretch and sway to the changing winds. Majestic in their stance they are grounded in their being, ask of nothing and listen well. We are reliant upon their existence, share oxygen and our love towards the sun, moon and stars.
The Object And Creation
An object speaks for the inner self that cannot voice its identity and expresses where words cannot fully define. It is both the mirror and the reflection, physical manifestation of the ephemeral and the capricious: map and bread crumb. Beyond the object is the space that contains it, manifesting itself as story book, archive to the lives we lead.
To Create Is To Manifest
To create is to manifest an inner longing, a universal question or emotion, giving weight and order to the capricious mind and body. It is a means to smooth the edges or to sharpen for the purpose of clarity. To create is an expressive language that often digs deep, uplifts and shines a light on the complexities and beauty of life and what it means to live.
A Bigger Picture
We are all small in comparison to the world and the universe that surrounds us. We are in fact a minuscule part to nature, despite our egos, yet this is where we came from, what we are made of: the stars, the sun and the moon.
Memory And Experience
Depending on one’s perception, life moves quickly or slowly, either way it leaves a residue that speaks to a bigger picture, the here and now. We consume time as quickly as we are consumed by history, gorging on immediacy, storing memories for the long trail ahead.
Refuge. Sanctuary. Home.
In this era, one hopes for sanctuary, longs for refuge and even escape. It is possible in this time to create an oasis that buffers, as we build the changes that betters our future. To create a refuge is to build metaphorical muscle, mindful stamina, jututsu for the long journey forward.
To Live Better And Do Better
At this point in time we have been forced to step off the whirligig of life and see what’s around us, both the beauty and the ugly. We have stepped back and viewed ourselves and our lives, how we live, who we are and our impact upon the future. Whether this is sustainable is up to us. We have a choice moving forward, to see the beauty that surrounds and to create change or to continue to spiral in place: the glass being half empty or half full.
Nature Inside And Out
Bringing nature in or closer is a increasingly strong movement that not only is bringing us closer to the natural world but to our natural selves and the tie between the two. In an era of lessons, one thing we are learning is our necessary connection to nature as sentient and sensory beings. This in theory is like going home again, back to where we’ve come from: looping back as we move forward.
The Structures Of Our Living
Our lives are informed by our surroundings: architecture, spaces and the objects within them. These are the clues to who we are as they are the inspirations that move us forward. Architecture speaks to our physical form, our minds and emotions, as does the spaces we live in and the objects we collect. These are all tethered by the act of inspiration, by our need to express who we are and our hopes for the future.
Beauty, Nature And Human Kind
Nature continues to be explored as subject matter within all the creative arenas. It fascinates us as its mysteries frighten us, we know ourselves and nature very little, both are clearly intertwined deepening this unknown and our drive to understand.
Nurturing
How we live today speaks volumes to how the future will look. The more we nurture ourselves and our environments both natural and built, the more fulfilled our lives and those of others to come, will be. This is our instinct of nature and nurture, of not only survival but empathy and the inspiration of beauty.
To Nurture And To Gather
To burrow deep into one’s living space, finding comfort and ease from the day’s events is to seek nirvana, heaven on Earth and even bliss. It isn’t hard to understand why we seek out respite, life is difficult, we crave nourishment, joy and the inspiration of beauty.
Sit. Stay.
In a time of required quarantine, sit, stay brings in a new meaning, expanding beyond utility into necessity and emotion, to meditate solely or to commune intimately. This is a time of connection, of person, place and thing, a questioning of how we live now and in the future.
Warmth. Coveting And Giving.
We are makers and dreamers, creating cocoons and objects that reflect our inner mood and our warm bloodedness. We read and write books, nessel in chairs of comfort, pull up to tables of wood to eat our hearty nourishing meals.
Nurturing Ourselves With Beauty
It is said that our innate emotions of love and affection is what has allowed our species to thrive and progress forward. Our need to take care of each other continues to be our constant, especially in times of difficulty. This is what defines and unites us in the circle of life and nature, why our homes are so much a part of who we are, our traditions and hopes for the future.
How We Live
The way we live in this world has shifted, moved to a simpler and more intimate place, our homes and even to our deeper selves. We are in a time of forced contemplation, a time to reflect on who we are and where it is we need to go.
James Turrell: You Who Look
What is visual perception? James Turrell, the artist who, for over 40 years, has been creating artworks that test our notions of seeing, takes us on a journey through his immersive series of works.
SENTIENT Live Edge Tables
Craftsmanship is a centuries old approach to making and expressing, a time honored and deeply knowledgeable way of making. Historically, the artisan was a backbone to their community, offering goods and services that could not otherwise be found.
SENTIENT Case Goods | Credenzas, Dressers, Consoles and Sideboards
In countering the trends of fast and throwaway, we are committed to craftsmanship and design that bends to the positive future and to our use of sustainable woods which are sourced locally through responsible and reputable businesses. These are not idle words, but a philosophy of design born with the conception of SENTIENT.
MELODIOUS
It is the function of design to not only be utilitarian but inspirational, to tug at the heart and appease the mind of order, especially in this era of chaos. This is what design can do, how it plays its part in the ongoing unfolding of life and the future we build, the future we desire.
To Inspire. To Be Inspired.
In an era of continual challenge, to surround oneself with beauty is to fortify one’s body and mind: will and hope. This is the strength of the creative mind, what art, design, architecture and language can bring to our everyday lives.
Robert Stilin: Symbiosis
In the interior design work of Robert Stilin, one finds a natural balance between creative inspiration and comfort. Here art is well placed as intricate element, while not feeling too precious in stature nor loud in voice.
Life Lessons
To surround oneself with the hand created is to live within the inspiration that beauty brings and what design can do: the elevations of living, the highs and depths.
Joy of Living
In a world of fast and throwaway, we are now in an era that is increasingly conscious of the opposite. To live more on purpose, less reactive and determined to find a better way.
Beauty and Creation
Beauty and creation are instinctual to who we are as intellect, emotion and memory.
SENTIENT
In reference to the future and even to AI specifically, it is the hand created that will be our savior. The connection between the maker and community.
Visual Poetry
The work of interior designer Amy Lau is an inspiration of language.
Wabi-Sabi
Wabi-Sabi in general practice, is the appreciation of the perfectly imperfect, both natural and person made.
On Style
Editor Carl Dellatore has offered up another signature design resource, On Style, for Rizzoli.
Beauty
Beauty is in the materials, the woven and the honed, natural and human made.
SENTIENT x Porsche during the 911 Speedster celebration at Monterey Car Week 2019
SENTIENT proudly partnered with Porsche during Monterey Car Week this year. Our pieces add a layer of timeless style to Porsche’s extraordinary display throughout the Zentrum Hospitality Lounge.
The Emotion of Home
How a home feels is paramount in how it assists in our living.
SENTIENT works with British Airways to Renovate First Class Lounges
SENTIENT worked with British Airways to update and renovate their First Class Lounges at several North American airports
SENTIENT Projects with Ian Schrager Boutique Hotels
SENTIENT has worked with Ian Schrager on a number of boutique hotel projects.
Discoveries from Salone del Mobile 2017
We visited Salone Del Mobile and the rest of the events in and around Milan to take the temperature of the international design scene. Here’s what we liked and loved.
TEN THINGS // IDS17 Toronto
Canada has a late-January design show to boost tourism in the frozen north.
TEN THINGS // BDNY 2016
SENTIENT was at BDNY 2016 and I had a quick walk around. Here’s what I saw that left an impression.
SENTIENT at Housing Work’s Design on a Dime: Brooklyn Outpost
SENTIENT’s works featured at this annual charitable event in Brooklyn.
TEN THINGS // Field & Supply
A nice fall day trip to Upstate NY.
TOUCHING – A Group Show at Wintercheck Factory
Epic raw interior with an excellent group show featuring young designers on display at Wintercheck Factory opening event Friday, Sept. 23rd. Oh how I want this kind of space!
HAPPYHAPPYJOYJOY By Joey Watson at HANDJOB Gallery Sept 9 – October 30th
We checked out the opening reception Friday, September 9, 2016, 7–10p at HANDJOB Gallery featuring a solo exhibition of ceramic works by Kansas City based artist Joey Watson.
Peter Shire: A Survey of Ceramics: 1970s to the Present at Derek Eller Gallery
American designer Peter Shire retrospective at Derek Eller Gallery
Separated at Birth? Kara Walker’s Domino Sugar Sphinx + Airlander 10
Separated at Birth? Design echoes art, echoes the human form …
10 THINGS // Design Miami 2016
Color, Shape & Form at Design Miami 2016
10 THINGS // Hamptons Design Contemporary
10 THINGS we found about the new Hamptons Contemporary show, which took place June 3–5
Trends at NYCxDesign: Hexagons
Hexagons were EVERYWHERE at NYCxDesign this year. A fun little post with some images.
Walking Through ICFF 2016
What we saw at this year’s largest and oldest show. The first time in nearly a decade we aren’t exhibiting!
10 THINGS // Wanted Opening Party in Manhattan
Ten things we saw at the Wanted Design opening party at the Terminal Stores location in Manhattan
NYCxDesign Parties and Events
The best (worst) part of NYCxDesign is the free drinks. I’m still recovering.
10 THINGS // Sight Unseen OFFSITE 2016
Ten things (plus) we liked at this years Sight Unseen Offsite. Still recovering from all those color gradients …
NYC Design Pavilion + AmDC ‘Growth’ Exhibit
A collection of exhibits in a public Design Pavilion at Astor Place
Collective Design Fair
The youngest NYCxDesign event is quickly becoming one of the best by perfecting a mix of luxury, art, design & playfulness.
Wanted Design Opening Party at Industry City
Play some pool, get lost in the lights, and get lost on the R train trying to get to Industry City for Wanted Design.
Opening Night at Bklyn Designs 2016
Metropolis Magazine sponsors the opening night party for the second Bklyn Designs to be held in Greenpoint at the Expo Center.
10 THINGS // Highpoint Spring 2016 Market
We cull the 2016 Highpoint Spring Market and find some diamond in the rough.
NY Design Week 2016 is here already?
Our first round up of NYC Design Week shows for 2016, all in one place so you don’t miss the BIG events
10 THINGS // Pedestal Tables
Pedestal tables. Are they boring? Can they not be? We try to find ten refreshing and playful pedestal tables.
Underworld + Tomato
Karl Hyde and Rick Smith are lucky guys. Not only are they electronic music pioneers—they also have a kick-ass design firm!
Video of The Week: Pull Me to Life
A Simple Drawer with A Twist designed by Juno Jeon.
10 THINGS // Milan Design Week 2016
Introducing 10 THINGS, a weekly design round up. To start things off, we scoured the web for the best of Milan Design Week 2016! Hopefully next year, we’ll be there ourselves …
The Next Rembrandt
Blurring the boundaries between art and technology, we set out on a challenge to see if the great Master can be brought back to life to create a new painting https://www.nextrembrandt.com The Next Rembrandt is a collaboration between: ING / Microsoft / TU Delft / Mauritshuis / Rembrandthuis
Brazilian Modernism Rediscovered
There has been a resurgance in late 60s and early 70s earthy, groovy Brazilian Modernism, seemingly fueled by sites like 1stdibs.com and chairish.com. The chunky hardwood frames and exaggerated upholstery that are hallmarks of the style have struck a nerve in the design community.
Harry Bertoia’s ‘Sonambient’ Sound Sculptures
In the furniture design industry, Harry Bertoia is considered a modern master for his classic wire frame collection, which was produced by Herman Miller and refined by Knoll.
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