Cork Meets Coffee Table

My last class before i would graduate at the CIA was in one of the restaurants called American Bounty.  The last class was waiting tables.  There i was able to start my collection of wine corks from the bottles that i poured to the ones that my fellow classmates poured.  At that moment i decided that i would eventually make myself a cork coffee table.  It was just a matter of time that i would have enough corks to complete the task.  Little did i know it would take me 4 years to finally complete my table.  

After graduation I moved back to Vermont to work next to my protege.  There I of course learned as much as possible and collected corks from the waitstaff and from the weddings that we had every weekend.  

Once i knew i had enough corks to begin my table, I discussed with my father my vision for this table.  We then went to the lumber yard and found the wood that we wanted to make a frame if you will to hold the corks that i would secure with a hot glue gun.  I wanted something different for the legs of the table.  then i remembered from visiting my chef at his house that he was cutting down some white birch trees around his drive way.  I picked a few logs that i deemed straight enough for the legs of the table.

Once my father and i had constructed the table, i placed a very light stain along the frame work of the table.  I know had a table, a frame table if you will with no corks.

Why corks you ask?  A few reasons, one I am a chef who loves wine and i myself contributed corks to this table, the one i remember most is the 1932 Medoc.  the other reason is its a Green product.  A cork tree can live up to 200 years, and is sustainable.  Once the tree is 25 years old you can strip the tree of its cork and every 9 years will produce more cork, the only tree of its kind.  60% of cork harvested is used for wine corks and there is over 2.2 million hectares of cork forest in the world.  Cork is very resilient, therefore is a good cork for wine and more recently is being used for flooring in "green" homes.

Getting back to my story, i had nearly completed my table when i had decided to move to Chicago to be with my girlfriend and it could not fit into my SUV along with the other items that i needed to bring.  After living in Chicago for more than 2 years my father and brother came out, they drove here from Vermont.  Since they drove they were able to bring items that i could not when i moved out.  Of course they had the table, my corks and glue gun.

The first night that they were here and asleep i completed the table and my mission was complete.  The entire table was cork, except the top row, in which i used synthetic corks to symbolize the ever changing wine industry.

So with all the above being said here are some pictures of my table.