A client came to the factory with the "mystery"  piece of furniture which he wanted to improve upon in terms of quality, design and sizing for his house. When my shop foreman saw it I could literally see the cogs in his brain spinning as he anglicized and mathematized on first,  how to reproduce it (but better of course) and second, why does this guy want this???

Here's the final product.  At first glance it appears like an ordinary bench albeit a bit chunky in proportion--like a Shaker bench that got upsized.  But wait, there's more.

 Upon further examination it becomes clear this is no ordinary bench, but a two for one fold up of some kind....

 Voila, a bench transformed into a complete dining set.  Not exactly the finessed Japanese furniture design for tight spaces, but an American, beefed up version of space saving. 

 Making a template for the custom metal plates we fabricated

Puzzle put together and ready for a distressed wax finish.

And here's the original piece that was brought in...

illustration by: Freepik