Aled Lewis’s “Wish Desk” uses a joinery system that combines splines, slip tenons, and a segmented sliding dovetail. The wishbone-shaped legs become part of the desktop and keep it flat as well as support it.

When Aled Lewis hatched the idea for his innovative “Wish Desk” in solid walnut—with legs that become part of the desktop and keep it flat as well as support it—the difficult part of the design process was still ahead. To make the novel concept functional in solid wood, he had to devise a joinery system that combined splines, slip tenons, and a segmented sliding dovetail. But working out the conundrums of one-of-a-kind woodworking is what he relishes these days. Lewis, who is the lead instructor for the Nine-Month Program at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine, was raised on a sheep farm in Wales and spent many years in high-end commercial cabinet shops in England, “laying acres and acres of veneer” while cranking out hundreds of pieces for universities, banks, and corporations. Since opening his own small shop a decade ago, he’s been building pieces one at a time, focusing solely on designs from his own sketchbook, having as little as possible to do with flakeboard and veneer. —Jonathan Binzen

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