As the name implies, live edge designs leave at least one side of the piece of furniture natural and untouched. Usually, the starting point is a slab of wood that is meticulously crafted into a piece of furniture without removing or hiding the imperfections of the slab. In most cases imperfections such as knots, cracks, insect holes etc. are accentuated in the finishing steps to highlight the uniqueness of the product. Most live-edge designs are handmade, though they are starting to mass produced. The popular George Nakashima (American woodworker, architect, and furniture maker) played a huge role in the origin and development of live edge furniture. He was a midcentury-modern furniture designer who developed furniture pieces with natural curves and clean-lined bases. His table tops usually displayed the organic beauty of the wood through butterfly joints and amazing finishing. Today you will see home décor influencers such as Joanna Gaines, from Fixer Upper, rave about live edge designs.

Pricing of live edge tables depends on several factors, but in general, the size of table top and the species of wood are the main factors considered by furniture makers when pricing a table top. Large slabs of wood required for dining tables are significantly pricier than smaller ones used for shelves or mantles of example. It is much harder to find a tree that yields a table width of 36+ inches when compared to a tree that yields a width of 10-12 inches. Moreover, trying to find a large slab of wood for a hard-to-find species multiplies the cost of the cost of the table. For this reason, the river glass table, the book matched table, or the barn table are more affordable (in general) options since the do not require such large slabs of wood. These can be build using much smaller pieces of wood then beautifully joined. A third factor affecting most live edge tables is the workmanship required to prepare and finish the slabs. A planer, which is a tool used to flatten wood, is usually not large enough to plane a single large slab. For this reason, most slabs are flattened by hand which is a laborious process. All these man hours add up quick.

We are proud to announce that MORUXO will be adding live edge designs (particularly dining tables) as a new product line to our existing inventory of 100% wood furniture pieces. Please reach out if you would like more information.