Alumajet
Fabricated from mirror-polished aluminum sheet metal, the AlumaJet is a coffee table that doubles as a sculpture.Watch The Alumajet Video
Len Reimer didn’t realize it when he and a buddy stayed late after work 16 years ago to construct a simple steel coffee table, but a career path in metal fabrication lay before him. “I had people over on the weekends, one thing led to another, and I ended up building similar pieces for friends,” Reimer recalls.
Since then, Reimer has logged nearly two decades worth of work in metal fabrication, doing everything from grunt and design work to high-end production. His company, Steel Illusions, focuses on custom-made commercial and residential pieces such as railings, awnings, reception desks and trendy-looking storefronts.
Yet, when Reimer’s company was trying to scramble together a piece to put in a local show home, he knew he needed something extra special. “I wanted something with wow factor,” he says.
“I had seen someone build a paper airplane coffee table out of plastic and thought, that’s a cool thing — let’s do that.”
Reimer bought a $20 book on how to build paper airplanes, picked one he liked, then folded and unfolded it on a piece of paper so he could draw it into his drafting software. The final product is a modern coffee table that doubles as art. The table looks as if it was bent from a single sheet of metal, but Reimer says some of the angles required made that impossible to do.
“There were parts that couldn’t be bent, so it was welded and polished out afterward,” he says. For Reimer, the entire process was a challenge that he eagerly welcomed. “You find your limitation until something comes along that requires you to be or do more,” he says.
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