SYD – Fine Furniture/Design

Tag: Box

  • Christmas Jewelry Box

    Christmas Jewelry Box

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    A good friend of mine approached me to make a jewelry box for his wife as a Christmas present. Before this commission, she was using a large plastic fishing tackle box to house her jewelry box. It was time for her to get a legitimate box she could call a jewelry box.  She loves jewelry and has a lot of it so that was the main focus- creating an elegant box large enough to house her jewelry, but doesn’t look clunky. I went for rippled English sycamore because a light wood make the whole thing feel lighter and I believe a jewelry box looks better in light wood. The rippled English sycamore gives enough figure and patterns to make the box beautiful without being too dramatic.

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    The necklaces take up the most space, so we went for as much necklace storage as possible. There are two doors on the sides that hinge open to hold necklaces. On the door there are hooks and a small shelf so that hanging necklaces don’t keep the door from closing. There is also a lift up top made of Sapele that opens to reveal a compartment for earrings, rings, and small jewelry. When the lift up top is closed, it locks the side necklace doors so it’s easier to move around if need be.

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    There are 9 drawers- 3 long one and 6 mini ones, all with dividers in them. The drawers are made out of solid hard maple with splines in the corners to make it strong, as well as add a touch of decorative element. The dividers fit into the drawers using a birds mouth joinery, which make it possible to add dividers to thin wood without having to compromise the strength of the wood. I put in a green suede liner on the bottom to keep the jewelry from getting scratched up.

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    The style of this jewely box is definately modern/contemporary, but I hope the added details injects some warmth to the design. I believe it will only get better with age and become more joy to use the longer she uses it. The rippled sycamore is finished using Renaissance wax, a wax developed by British art conservationist.

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  • Barrister inspired File Cabinet

    Barrister inspired File Cabinet

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    My client wanted a file cabinet to go with the round meeting table I had made for his office. Not needing to store many files, I wanted a piece of furniture that has many functions. Along with being a file cabinet, I wanted a to create a little shelf to place books, artwork, or other things in. Taking a cue from a barrister’s bookcase, I decided to make two separate cabinets that is stacked on top to create a bigger cabinet. This idea solidifies the different function these two cabinets have but combines it in one unified piece. I also made the total height end up so that it becomes a little table surface to put keys, snacks, business cards, or cups on.

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    First, I created a wide drawer for all the hanging files and oriented them in a lateral orientation to maximize the amount of storage without the cabinet becoming too deep. I didn’t want just a regular plain old box so I decided to have the top poke through so you see the end grain from the side. I also put in brass splines to accent that joint, but also give a little jazz to an otherwise boring joinery.

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    The upped cabinet is created in a similar fashion but the door is a glass door with mahogany frame. The idea for doors in a barrister’s bookcase is that the glass protects the contents from dust, without blocking the view of the contents. I wanted the door to swing up and slide back so no one has to hold the door open to access the contents. The mechanism took some figuring out to do since the door wants to rack and pinch as it’s sliding back. I alleviated some of that tendency by creating a brass guide that runs in a slot created in the back side of the door. The track helps keep the doors aligned parallel.

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    The whole piece is created using solid Sipo Mahogany. The drawers are made from Hard Maple with a box joint joinery.

  • Horn Jewelry Box

    Horn Jewelry Box

    hornbox5This client approached me about a jewelry box for his soon to be wife as a wedding gift. I’ve always loved the idea that I can create something meaningful for a couple on this special day. This object will be in some way linked as something that will remind them of this once in a lifetime moment. So, of course, I jumped on the project.

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    We talked about what designs he and his wife was into, and it became apparent that he wanted something simple, yet elegant. They also loved mid century designs as well as art deco so I wanted to tie elements of those in while creating something unique. The design we stumbled upon is layers of pecan and maple that is slightly different in size so it creates a staggered effect. The bevel on the edges bring this staggered effect to life while still maintaining the subtleness.For the top, I chose spalted maple since the tones were similar with the rest of the box and let’s face it, spalted lumber is just plain beautiful to look at.

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    There are four small drawers with removable dividers and a lift up lid that also houses removable dividers. The dividers fit into a beveled groove (birds mouth groove) so the thin divider sides are kept as strong as possible. To be able to lift the lid up, I notched out a little triangle- just enough for a finger to grab hold of the lid. I brought the triangle detail down to the rest of the pecan layers to keep everything balanced.

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    The drawers needed a handle and I didn’t want to disturb the nice triangle feature, so I decided to cutout a finger hole on the side that allows for the drawers to be opened easily. I think it’s interesting to be able see the maple drawer sides through the cutout and see the movement of the cutout as the drawer is being opened.

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