Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) was an Austrian Painter and sculptor. Born in Austria he lived and worked primarily in Vienna but eventually made New Zealand his permanent home. He was one of Austria’s best known contemporary artists though he remains controversial. I first got to know Hundertwasser from my own time spent living in Vienna and like Hundertwasser I too now make my home in New Zealand, so it seemed appropriate to use his work as my inspiration.
The common themes in his work are a rejection of the straight line, bright colors, organic forms, a reconciliation of humans with nature, and a strong individualism.
While living in New Zealand and as his last major project undertaken before his death he redesigned a public toilet facility in Kawakawa. The inspiration for my table is taken from this building.
Kawakawa public toilet facility 
Friendreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) – He is buried in New Zealand, in his garden of the Happy Dead, under a tulip tree.
And here is my Hundertwasser table:
The legs are turned and painted (or could be tiled per Hundertwasser’s style). The frame is made from New Zealand recycled Rimu. I haven’t been quite true to Hundertwasser’s dislike of straight lines with the choice of table top. Putting on an organic shaped and mosaic tiled top was proving more of a challenge than I was up for, this being my first time with Sketchup…but it would be an interesting addition. Instead I opted for a boldly colored top to balance all the color from the legs. A highlight in the table top ties the frame and the top together. The frame also got a small painted rabbet along the perimeter to match the table top ( this is better seen in the rendered versions shown at the end).
The legs support the table. The decorative frame underneath is held by 10 dowels from the frame into the table top.. The dowels come through to the top of the table top to show off the joinery.
Some more views:
A couple of renders of the table. ( my first time so just the basics).
Steve
-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com
12 comments so far
Robb
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356 posts in 827 days
posted 787 days ago
Wow, great story and artistic interpretation of Hundertwasser’s work! Nice work in Sketchup as well, btw, especially for a first attempt. I’m nowhere near ready to draw anything that complex yet. Keep up the good work.
-- Robb
MsDebbieP
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14156 posts in 1054 days
posted 787 days ago
what a wonderful story behind this table!!
A great table too… and the sketchup.. wow.. Well done.
-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Thos. Angle
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4013 posts in 855 days
posted 787 days ago
Who said a a table has to have four legs all the same? Obviously not Herr Hundertwasser. I great ,fun concept.
Good luck
Tom
-- Thos. Angle
Brad_Nailor
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1213 posts in 850 days
posted 787 days ago
Interesting design! You really nailed the inspiration in your design. I really like the way the apron floats under the table unnatached to the legs. Nice model, and nice renders. What did you use to do the renders? Looks like Podium to me!
-- David, South Windsor, CT "I love the smell of sawdust in the morning"
Karson
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25792 posts in 1294 days
posted 787 days ago
Great table. good luck
-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †
mot
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4901 posts in 929 days
posted 787 days ago
Awesome!
-- You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. (Plato)
jockmike2
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7299 posts in 1140 days
posted 786 days ago
Colorful bugger alright. Pretty neat looking. jockmike
-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com
daltxguy
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558 posts in 807 days
posted 786 days ago
Thanks for all the comments.
Yes, I used Podium to do the renders after the suggestion in your entry. It is truly easy to use and runs relatively fast even on my older 1.8Ghz machine. It took about 7minutes to complete the highest quality render and only requires a couple of settings. I’m still a bit confused about lighting settings and interaction with SU shadows. Maybe another read through the online tutorial.
You can also see that it doesn’t seem to do anything interesting with the turned ‘painted’ legs either. They look about the same after rendering as they do before. Again, maybe it requires some more playing around, or else, perhaps it doesn’t handle this particularly well?
-- Steve, New Zealand, www.steveracz.com
DAN
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6438 posts in 876 days
posted 784 days ago
I’m a fan of Hundertwasser’s work. Didn’t realize he did anything other then painting. You captured his spirit in this sketchup model. Would make a interesting table, possibly in a resturant that is also a art gallery.
-- work from your heart and your spirit will live forever
scottb
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3402 posts in 1220 days
posted 782 days ago
great interpretation and design. what a fun table!
-- I am always doing what I cannot do yet, in order to learn how to do it. - Pablo Picasso -- http://blanchardcreative.etsy.com -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/
Adj
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1 post in 781 days
posted 781 days ago
Awesome table!!! Good luck and hope you win!! I’m rooting for you!
From your supporting big sister,
Adj
Arnold
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107 posts in 455 days
posted 446 days ago
very nice, you have inspired me to look at things in a different way. I can better draw inspiration from the world around me.