Furniture · Ariel Diaz

The woodshop was my creative outlet at Dartmouth — a balance to the time I spent on crew and at Thayer. A lot of my early designs were inspired by crew: the bookcase below is based on the shape of the bow of the boat. It looks light, but the cantilevered shelves make it a lot more stable than you'd think.

Working in wood means working with the limitations of the wood and the grain. Over time the designs started to include the end product and the manufacturing as part of the design itself.

A tall bookcase of light wood, five cantilevered shelves narrowing toward the top like the bow of a boat — Bookcase — its shape taken from the bow of a racing shell, with cantilevered shelves.

A coffee table with a striped hardwood top, a slatted lower shelf, and splayed legs — Coffee table, with a slatted lower shelf.

A coffee table whose dark and light woods meet on a diagonal across the top, on curved runners — Coffee table — two woods meeting on the diagonal, on curved runners.

A glass-topped coffee table with sculpted legs in a display case, a slatted headboard behind it — On display — a glass-topped coffee table with sculpted legs.

A magazine spread titled The Art of Engineers, with a photo of Ariel standing beside the bookcase in a woodshop — Dartmouth Engineer, Fall 2004 — "The Art of Engineers."