It's nice to have a pressing reason to make a new piece. Otherwise you might never get around to it, you might continue to put it off. We gave ourselves a reason to build this walnut version of our Armadillo coffee table: to raise a bit of cash for the Architecture, Design and Graphics Department of the DAM.

So here's how we pitched it at Design After Dark, Skin (by the way, some wise fool dropped the cash and got the key): "Yes, a mini version of our Armadillo coffee table in walnut. Big deal, you say? Not so fast. Since the rules for this event stipulate that donated objects must fit inside a 12"x12"x12" vitrine, what were we supposed to do? So to tempt you to shed your skinflintiness we made the mini and added a wrinkle: if the winning bidder puts sufficient skin in the game and spends over $800 he or she gets a key to unlock a full-size walnut Armadillo (which we'll chain up somewhere in the wild). And not just any full-size walnut Armadillo—walnut Armadillo number 1, the first and original. Hell, it might be worth something someday."