At AD Design Home Show: Longboard Sideboard

Newell Design is a company after my own heart. They are based in Colorado (as am I); they are committed to using materials and building practices that are good for the environment; and they are cognizant of design needs (I’ll get to that later). The Denver company was founded by Jeff and Beth Newell in 1998. Schooled in poetry, Jeff Newell taught himself furniture-making, so he’s gone from sculpting words to sculpting woods (both need a detail-oriented craftsperson).

After “learn[ing] the arcane processes essential to building high end furniture,” Mr. Newell became the company’s Lead Designer–someone who is usually found in the workshop. At the AD Design and Home Show, Newell Design is showing off the Longboard Sideboard—poetic, isn’t it? This rhyming piece is indeed as complex and multi-faceted as the Baroque music that Mr. Newell favors. The primary reason I love the Longboard Sideboard is that it is “designed to be displayed in the round” (see design needs, above). The back is bookmatched so that the piece can be displayed in the center of a room. As far as I’m concerned, not enough furniture looks good from all sides. Living spaces are changing, and walls are simply not where they used to be. Bathroom companies have realized this–most tubs now come with floating options–but furniture makers have generally eschewed the new realities of open floor plans.

Part of the reason furniture neglects one side, relegating pieces to be backed against the wall, is that making furniture “in the round” is difficult. It requires time, effort, even craftsmanship–which brings me to the other reason I love the Longboard Sideboard. Besides the bookmatched back, the sideboard “has a slipmatched face, with a center bookmatched seam.” But let’s talk about drawers and pulls. The Longboard Sideboard features three swing-out drawers, each dovetailed from rock maple. And the pulls are custom machined from stainless steel, then polished to a satin finish.

The default Longboard Sideboard is made of Macassar Ebony, but it’s available in lacquer finishes, Koa Wood, or Figured Walnut. And it’s not called Longboard for no reason: at 80” w, the sideboard truly lives up to Newell’s claim that it “can occupy the center of a room, and your attention” (26h x 24d). The Longboard Sideboard also rescues the state of Colorado from its bad design associations: antler chandeliers and jackalope statuettes and rough-hewn logs. Newell Design proves that you can pair excellent workmanship with contemporary design. Built in a Western state and with conservation in mind, the Longboard Sideboard is a perfect example of American craftsmanship.