Live Edge - Is it a fad?

[Woodenskye (Bryan)]

Thread transferred from previous forum - Original Post by Kev

Original Post:

Are we going to look back in 20 years and say the same things about live edge stuff as we do about 70s style furniture and design?

As furniture designers, should be be steering clients (our ourselves) away from live edge stuff for this very reason? Does this leave room for being "creative" with our designs?

Does this also count for the current rage on the river table stuff with the epoxy inlays? Just a variation on the live edge stuff really.

Thoughts?

Follow Up Posts:

1)  Talking clients out of choosing a piece that may be a fad is not good for business 
I'm not a fan of live edge. It's ok in certain circumstances, but it is so overdone there isn't room to breathe.

2)  I am not a huge fan, I think it needs to be in the right setting to work well. It is being over used, just like epoxy River tables in my opinion. Now if I was doing this for a living, whatever the client wants is fine as long as the check clears.

3)  I don't do any client stuff but it would be financial suicide to steer a customer away from it.  And if it is a fad it could be repeat business when they get tired of it and need something to replace it. Live edge isn't anything I would do for myself but I did have the opportunity to see a liquor cabinet that Mel did for one of his customers that had a live edge top on it. It added to the piece but it didn't demand to be the center of attention. I could almost go unnoticed in general passing.  I don't know if it was his idea or her's but it was very well done.

4)  I met a gentleman several years ago that specialized n milling and making live edge tables for big oil companies. He ended up milling several logs for me that I had cut down and am still using the slabs to this day. He had several pecan slabs, trees downed due to new home building, and offered several for sale. As our den is pretty rustic, cedar and stucco, we needed a coffee table and I bought one of his slabs, bark included. After much sanding, grinding and rasping, I now have a live edge coffee table that fits well in it’s environment. Been there, done that. But still glad I did.

5)  I don’t sell many live edge slabs. But, I can’t cut the big super wide slabs. What few I do sell are black walnut slabs. I think, there will always be people that will buy a few.