3 years in the making, a decorative pedestal built by students in Don Dupont’s Furniture Design design courses is now a permanent fixture at Lafayette Library and Learning Center, where it is being used to display the Library Foundation’s donor book, which list all those who have contributed to the library fund.
According to Dupont, the idea for the project first came up when a friend of Dupont’s, Lafayette Library board of trustees member Ron Olowin, suggested it back in 2012. “He was aware of the quality of work that my students are capable of, and since the library was in need of a pedestal to support a donors’ book, Prof. Olowin suggested to the board that they ask students in my program to design and produce it. We were thrilled to take on such a civic minded project, and so I offered it to students in my furniture design class,” he said.
The pedestal, made entirely of wood, is shaped like a stack of books. Matin Amanat, who graduated in 2013, designed it. Engraved on each of the books are the names of famous titles and authors such as Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Iliad by Homer and Harry Potter by J.K Rowling. All of the book titles were selected by the students. One of the books has the names and years of graduation of all of the students who worked on the stand. The top book on the stack has the library’s open book logo.
Dupont noted that the Lafayette Library has several bronze statues of stacks of books in its outer courtyard. “It fits in quite well with the book themed sculptures,” he said.
Over the last few years, several students have added to the pedestal, including sophomore Zack Duffy, juniors Justin Veleck, Emily Lyall and Anthony Yee, and seniors Chris Hansen and Connor McNally.
Duffy said that whole experience was beneficial and fun for him. “I’ve had to learn new techniques and its just been a great experience for me.” he said.
The making of the pedestal was complicated. The wooden books are made with multiple layers of plywood veeners. This, according to Dupont, gives the impression of the pages of a closed book. The covers and binding are made of different kinds of wood, including ash, cherry, maple, walnut, sapele and padauk.
“I’ve never done something like this before and it was interesting to see the different things that you can do with wood. The amount of stuff that you can do with wood is amazing,” said Duffy.
All the engravings were done with a CNC (Computer, Numerically Controlled) laser printer. All of the books are held together with a central threaded rod with a washer at the top and bottom of the stack of “books.”
“It will really show new people how lucky they are to have all of these benefactors that donated to the library,” Duffy said.
“Students were excited about creating this project. It gave them the opportunity to make something that would be used in a public situation and thus be of benefit to society as a whole. They also greatly enjoyed the process and challenge of producing the skeuomorphic representation of books in the material, wood, they so love working with,” said Dupont.
