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Xiangji Table
Solo project
2024
Xiangji Table
Designed and built by
Hugo Nakashima-Brown
This project examines a 16th-century Fujianese Xiangji table as a production system rather than a stylistic artifact. Originally developed as a prototype while studying at the North Bennet Street School for a proposal related to the renovation of the MFA’s Chinese galleries, the work reconstructs the table’s geometry and joinery using conventional shop machinery. It asks how historically hand-cut, high-skill joinery can be translated into repeatable workflows without compromising its structural intelligence. Rather than simplifying joint logic, the project preserves its complexity while shifting where skill is embedded—from tacit hand knowledge into fixtures, sequencing, and tool choice—treating production methods themselves as carriers of cultural information capable of extending historical knowledge into contemporary practice.
The apron was constructed as a coopered octagon with integrated clamping blocks, allowing angled clamping and verification of cut accuracy at the half-octagon stage before full assembly.
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Legs were profiled using a spindle molder with a single, purpose-built hold-down jig, flush-trimming the rear face and radiusing the front with one tool change. A sliding dovetail was then cut on an overarm pin router, translating a traditionally labor-intensive, chiseled operation into a guided, machine-mediated cut without altering joint geometry.
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The sliding dovetail engaged a corresponding housing within the apron. A matching cope, required by the curved geometry, was cut using a large-diameter drill bit, demonstrating how non-specialized tooling can be repurposed to resolve compound geometry typically addressed through bespoke handwork.
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The apron profile was cut incrementally by raising a standard spindle-molder cutter already present in the shop, allowing an outwardly complex profile to emerge from common tooling rather than custom knives.
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The base frame was mitered and shaped, with a secondary jig developed to profile the mitered feet. Glue was used only to stabilize modular subassemblies: the coopered apron, top frame, and feet. The primary structural joints remain mechanical. The table can be fully disassembled by removing the top and sliding the legs free from the apron and base, prioritizing portability, repair, and long-term use.
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