re: Brave or Stupid?

Rennners: Great Question, and thanks for offering it out for feedback.

(with a broad smile – ) Brave AND Stupid are not necessarily mutually exclusive; though everything becomes a sum of its parts…. My guess is that what makes it Brave is the somewhat Stupid part…

From the picture, it’s difficult to see the base, in 3D; that is, I can’t tell how the legs are joined, if there are right and left legs joined (cross-member, perhaps) or they intersect in the middle (like a large X)
Also, from the picture, the wood appears to be 8/4 (50mm) Walnut (pricey…), though, I’m not an expert in this. Also, there appears to be a double taper to each leg (narrowing in the center, tapering out to a wide ends. The glass is probably tempered – again, pricey – and relieved on the edges.

If the legs form a large X, then the very difficult question of the central mortises and tenons, if that’s how you would do it. My initial thought is to half-lap a small central section, then secure (Top-to-Bottom, through) with a 1" (+/-) walnut peg. My guess is that any type of nut & bolt arrangement, though expedient, would loosen – if you use a nut & bolt, rather than the peg, this would allow dis-assembly; and you may be able to achieve sufficient tightness with a washer, lock washer, and double-nut arrangement – though, you would have to conceal this joinery, for appearance sake. In either case, the central joint would need to be fairly robust to allow for a large Nut & Bolt or walnut peg. There is a possibility that a large half-lap, alone, would be sufficient; however, I’m skeptical that this would be strong enough; and rigid enough. .

Regarding process -
The overall quote should cover (be large enough) to support the prototype cost – unless you want to take this on as a learning experience.
The prototype – I would start-out with Pine, Douglas Fir, or an inexpensive hardwood – to test approaches to the central joinery – you can approximate the weight with plywood and cement blocks laid onto whatever prototype leg assembly you build.

These are my initial thoughts – I hope they’re helpful.
MJCD