What’s on your bench? Spotlight on Freddy Mata.

The name of this one is “Square Minds”, but that might change depending on how the concept evolves as the piece comes together.

It’s a functional sculpture — I’m aiming for it to work as a side or coffee table. It all started with a single block of Oregon, originally intended as a solid stool. But once it was ready, I decided to cut it in half. Now those two halves will sit on reclaimed messmate boards.

These photos show the base for Square Minds. There’s still work to do, but the trickiest bit is done — cutting the cross-lap joints for the rails that will hold the planks together.

The router bit really had to work hard, cutting through timber, kino veins, and resin. The most satisfying part? Designing and building a jig that let me cut both boards at the same time to get the alignment just right. I also had to make a wider base for the trimmer, so it wouldn’t fall or lean into the cut-outs when I was cutting full sections.

The jig ended up looking like a drone — bonus.

Follow Freddy on instagram here.