# Help with the "Golden Ratio"



## m2244 (Dec 16, 2011)

Hello,

I've been looking around at folks projects and found one where another user suggested using the "Golden Ratio" to design furniture.

So, I looked it up. Makes sense. But the information I found talked about relating the hieght, say of a dresser, to the width. Again, makes sense. But my question is; would you also relate this principle to other parts of the design such as the space from the edge of a drawer to the edge of the frame?

Has anyone seen a web site or some other source for researching this?

Thanks guys.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

m2244 said:


> So, I looked it up. Makes sense. But the information I found talked about relating the hieght, say of a dresser, to the width. Again, makes sense. But my question is; would you also relate this principle to other parts of the design such as the space from the edge of a drawer to the edge of the frame?
> 
> Has anyone seen a web site or some other source for researching this?
> 
> Thanks guys.



There are many sites if you Google "Golden Ratio". Design layouts that fit the parameters of the ratio, may just look better because of their proportions. Small spacing may not be applicable, but more of what looks good to the eye. IOW, what is visually appealing.










 







.


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## tymann09 (Mar 4, 2011)

i think the golden mean/ratio is mostly for reference. if you design a dresser. perhaps the overall shape will follow the golden rectangle, however, the drawers may not, they could be more suited to whatever is functional. but then, you could take another step and arrange the drawer pulls on all the drawers to follow the golden mean as well. this way the eye is drawn to the bookcase imediately because of it's overall shape and then again to the pulls. i think if every little detail followed the golden mean, it could look a little wierd. this is just my opinion though.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

Go to Amazon books and search "Golden Ratio". There are a few really good books about the subject.

I try to use it in some form or another for every design I do. It relates to general prominent proportions.


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

Fine Woodworking "How to Design Furniture" has an excellent write up on the golden ration and the golden rectangle concept with pictures that illustrate it nicely and how it applys in nature too. The ratio can be applied to as many or as few parts as you want. They use a chest of drawers as an example and show how the height to width is ratio'd, and different size drawers are ratio'd. It really helped me understand how it applies. You might look that up. It's just a $10 special publication they had last year, I am sure you could reorder an issue if you wanted to.


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## m2244 (Dec 16, 2011)

ACP said:


> Fine Woodworking "How to Design Furniture" has an excellent write up on the golden ration and the golden rectangle concept with pictures that illustrate it nicely and how it applys in nature too. The ratio can be applied to as many or as few parts as you want. They use a chest of drawers as an example and show how the height to width is ratio'd, and different size drawers are ratio'd. It really helped me understand how it applies. You might look that up. It's just a $10 special publication they had last year, I am sure you could reorder an issue if you wanted to.


Bingo. This is exactly what I was looking for. I have an engineering background so relating this sort of thing to woodworking is fascinating.

Thanks for the help.


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## m2244 (Dec 16, 2011)

Here it is, Fine Woodworking's article on the Golden Ratio. It's a PDF so you can save it to your computer.

I hope this helps.

http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDFfree/011168048.pdf


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## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

m2244 said:


> Here it is, Fine Woodworking's article on the Golden Ratio. It's a PDF so you can save it to your computer.
> 
> I hope this helps.
> 
> http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDFfree/011168048.pdf


Good man! That's the one. I was just reading it the other day working out a dimension for a plant stand set I'm making. I wanted to ratio the top with the bottom. Good link.


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