Richard Kubisz
Upper Ferntree Gully, Vic

Ned

‘The client for this cabinet has been my most ‘challenging’ to date—my wife! Like the car mechanic who drives a bomb and the plumber with leaky taps at home, as a furniture maker, I have for many years kept my TV, VCR and videos in a non-descript black melamine box. Purchasing a DVD player became the catalyst for my wife to insist on a ‘decent cabinet’ for all the components.

‘Our open plan living area provided a challenge—the TV screen had to be oriented to provide for viewing from the kitchen, the dining table and then the sofa. The degree of difficulty increased with the space it had to fit. The TV is not tucked into a corner; it sits between an open balustrade, a stairwell, and a walkway—all sides of the unit would be exposed.

‘With all these odd angles my design lent itself to a shelf on one side and a niche on another side for ornaments or pot plants. The niche also has a removable shelf which provides access to the cables concealed in the base.

‘Once my ‘client’ approved the design concept, I created a full-scale cardboard model. I realised quickly that I would need to adjust the dimensions somewhat to enable the cabinet to fit through a standard 820mm doorway! Given the constraints of the viewing angles and of video and DVD cases (hence drawer sizes), I could only refine the finished cabinet to 1100mm wide, 900mm at its deepest and 950mm high. Another challenge. I resolved this dilemma with knock-down fasteners. The cabinet dismantles to jarrah veneered panels, a Vic ash drawer carcase and solid jarrah and ash dovetailed drawers which can be reassembled in 10 minutes.’