Jony Ive’s LoveFrom studio redesigned the rostrum at Christie’s, the lectern where auctioneers stand to sell the world’s most expensive things. John Gruber wrote about it last month, and the photos are worth a look.

Anything that crosses Apple and furniture making lands on my radar, and this is beautiful work.

That said. I kind of wish the makers had reached for more hand tools. A piece like this feels like it should have hand-cut joinery. Machine-cut joints are accurate to the thousandth of an inch. The small variations of a chisel and a marking gauge are part of why a handmade piece feels handmade. It’s the difference between a watch face printed by a laser and one engraved by a person.

Maybe they did and the photos just don’t show it. But if I were commissioning a one-off rostrum for the place that sells Picassos, I’d want every joint to come out of someone’s hands.