Offcut Cityscapes: Sketching Sculptures with Band Saws

offcut sculptural cityscapes

An adept furniture maker is familiar with scrap – but this designer-and-artist has turned leftover materials into something just as fantastic as his normal finished projects.

offcut wood urban sculptures

James McNabb has crafted fine wooden designs using lasers and routers, but the band saw drove this stunning series of abstract city landscapes shaped into circles and in some cases patterned after furniture, from tables and shelves to chandeliers.

offcut bandsaw furniture sculpting

He began shaping the individual pieces without picturing them as architectural, but by arranging them on a grid, the sense of buildings emerges from each work.

offcut wooden shadow table

As he assembles each from uniquely-cut shapes, individual structures may be similar but no two compositions are alike.

offcut mfa student debut

offcut wood traditional furniture

Like many stellar artists of history and the present, his creativity comes from a departure from but includes education in traditional forms and techniques – his beautiful furniture forms the basis for these more innovative offshoots.