Watch how Traditional Chinese Joinery Works

Sun at Six was founded with a commitment to maintaining classical Chinese joinery, the fading traditional artform of constructing furniture without nails and screws. Our 5th Anniversary Cloud Collection is a direct homage to that heritage, and today we wanted to give you a deeper look into joinery and the joinery masters behind our pieces.

Joinery work is really divided into 4 steps: preparing the wood, cutting the joinery, putting the joinery together, and finishing the wood. Here, Meijun shows us how the joinery for a Cloud Coffee Table is put together.

The tabletop includes a frame (two long edges with tenons, and 2 short edges with mortises) and “floating” panel, which floats freely in the 4 edges, allowing the panel to expand and contract with changes in temperature and humidity.

You can see also 2 transverse braces running across the bottom of the tabletop, which also are attached via mortise and tenon to prevent warping of the tabletop over time.

The frame also includes recessed slots allowing for mortise and tenon connection of the apron and legs as well, which is tightened by the weight of the table against the leg joints.