This impressively analogue piece of kit is a custom drafting table, created by Madrid-based industrial design studio Caliper for the artist Daniel Arsham. Well known for his love of all things mechanical (and a former Wallpaper* cover creator), Arsham has worked with everyone from Tiffany & Co to Kohler and Hublot.
Drafting table for Daniel Arsham by Caliper
This particular project was strictly personal. Caliper, founded by the equally mechanically minded Quinner Baird in 2020, has taken the traditional drafting board and given it a distinctly contemporary twist. The ambition is to create the perfect surface and workspace for Arsham’s ongoing series of charcoal and graphite drawings, complete with a large-scale backlit surface and attached magnifying lamp.
Drafting table for Daniel Arsham by Caliper
Alongside this, the table incorporates a number of bespoke storage compartments – for tools, paper and charcoal – as well as lighting controls and the all-important charging ports. It's all formed from CNC machined aluminium, clear anodised and bead-blasted, with a high degree of bespoke manufacturing on display.
Detail design of the table mechanism
Every detail is out in the open, rather than hidden away, from the exposed gears of the lifting mechanism, with their perfectly machined winders, to the adjustable legs and sliding mechanism for the angled lamp on the rear of the board.
Detail design of the drafting table and magnifying light
Caliper – recently seen on these pages with its colourful AA67 speaker for Alaska Alaska – built the entire drafting table in its Madrid studio before shipping it to Arsham’s HQ in New York.
Drafting table for Daniel Arsham by Caliper
DanielArsham.com, @DanielArsham