Fort Knox Conference Table

"In the absence of courage, nothing worthwhile can be accomplished."*

At thirty feet long and five feet wide, this is the largest table we've ever built. It was commissioned by the US Army for the Cadet Command conference room at Fort Knox, a room that will host senior military leaders, senators, and other dignitaries.

The table features five 28" x 24" bases, each with access panels, wire chases, and state-of-the-art power hubs. Everything needed to run seamless, high-level meetings, without a cable in sight.

And it had to be beautiful.

We built it from Khaya mahogany with a dark mahogany stain. Every board was hand-selected. We visited two of our favorite lumber suppliers and spent hours combing through their stacks looking for the right pieces. We were specifically after "ribbon figure," a rare chatoyant grain pattern that catches the light in ways plain-sawn boards simply don't.

Delivering it was another matter entirely. Until now our work has stayed close to home, Greater New York, with one memorable exception: a dining table delivered deep into central Massachusetts, past moose crossing signs and through mountain roads we hadn't expected. Kentucky was a different proposition. Over 800 miles. A massive table. A new location. And the quiet weight of knowing this piece would host meetings at the highest levels of military and civilian leadership. We hit heavy rainstorms in western Pennsylvania, near the highest point on I-80 east of the Mississippi. We pushed through. We set up. We exceeded expectations.

Fort Knox is famous for its gold reserves. Now it holds a piece of the Gold Coast.

*Courage is one of the Eight Habits of Highly Creative Communities, from "The Eternal Pursuit of Unhappiness," a philosophy handbook published by Ogilvy & Mather. The eight virtues are Courage, Idealism, Curiosity, Playfulness, Candour, Intuition, Free-Spiritedness, and Persistence. Courage comes first, and for good reason: it's the habit that makes all the others possible.