The evolution of a pull

Start with the good bones

Then dress them up

When I began my 52 boxes in 52 weeks project, the primary goal was to develop my design aesthetic and improve my design skills. I'm not ready to decide whether I've accomplished those goals, but I think it's OK to discuss something that I've learned, and offer an illustration of it. Here it is: design happens through evolution not revolution. I suspected this before I began, but I've watched it happen over the last 11 months and have no doubt about it now. This evolution is not a result of some natural talent for design. It is, rather, the outcome of asking a simple question: What could I do differently?

I'd like to demonstrate this truth by explaining how I came to the very lovely pull used on box 46. What I hope is that you'll read this and feel empowered. Good design isn't difficult. All it takes is the willingness to ask a question, and the courage to fail (because not everything you try out will succeed). Well, let's get started. Click on the pictures below to see a larger version.

Beauty begins with the bones
So, one of the things that I'm a bit obsessed with is stripping things down to their absolute bare minimum so that I can see them more clearly. I then work on proportions, which are the bones of furniture design. So, when I first started making pulls for boxes (like the one for box 2, they were just rectangles. I think the proportions are very good, and the pull is functional, but that's all there is to it. (For the sake of discussion, let's ignore how I'm using the pull's color.)

Get a better grip
Functionally, there isn't anything truly wrong with the simple rectangular pull I was using on my boxes, but I knew that I could make it easier to grasp it. The question was how to do this without loosing the pull's delicacy and elegance. Feet, I thought, would raise the pull up and give some space beneath it, making for a more secure grasp. To compensate for the tall overall height of the pull, I used a narrower piece for the bar, and I kept the feet as small as possible. (This is box 10.)

Introduce some angles
I like rectilinear forms, but you should never rest on your heels. There had to be something I could do that would make the basic form of the pull more elegant. I sketched curves of all manner, and tried out angles meeting at a peak, too. This pull is quite simple. It's at it's tallest in the middle and slopes down to either end. This is a small change, but makes for a more dramatic pull, one that has a bit more pop to it. (This is box 40.)

Add texture
When I needed five pulls for a tea box, I wanted to go with something not turned. I was kicking ideas around when I remembered the pull from box 10, but didn't want to use painted feet. Still, the pull needed some color to tone down the stark white color of the basswood. That's when I thought of the wrapped ring pulls I used on boxes 4, 38, and 39. What's cool here is that two different pull designs are coming together to create a new pull design that's delicate, elegant, functional, and adds some color and texture (and the texture enhances the functionality of the pull, making it easier to grasp). But this was just an evolutionary step. I took something from one pull and added it to another.

Bring it all together
This pull takes everything from the tea box pull and adds the angularity of the pull from box 40. The result is a sophisticated, resolved pull. I'm sure I could still play with it (an arced bar would be very cool), but this is a mature design. It's the culmination of many small changes over the course of nearly a year of constant designing and making. And there's the "secret:" Design something, make it, ask what you could change, make it over with the change, repeat. (This is box 46.)