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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324 posts in 419 days
posted 379 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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11926 posts in 645 days
posted 379 days ago
what a wonderful story behind this table!!
A great table too… and the sketchup.. wow.. Well done.
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Thos. Angle
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3236 posts in 447 days
posted 378 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, Owyhee Design, Oregon
Brad_Nailor
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725 posts in 442 days
posted 378 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!
-- Women love me.....trees fear me
Karson
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12902 posts in 885 days
posted 378 days ago
Great table. good luck
-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com
mot
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4837 posts in 521 days
posted 378 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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4136 posts in 731 days
posted 378 days ago
Colorful bugger alright. Pretty neat looking. jockmike
-- Mike. Profisher50@yahoo.com
daltxguy
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240 posts in 399 days
posted 378 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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3214 posts in 468 days
posted 376 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.
-- ..... art for lifes sake
scottb
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2942 posts in 812 days
posted 374 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. - Vincent Van Gogh -- http://snbcreative.wordpress.com/
Adj
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1 post in 373 days
posted 373 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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8 posts in 47 days
posted 38 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.