Guy Robins
Narrogin, WA

TV Cabinet

‘The design for this cabinet developed from a simple idea scrawled in a scrapbook many years ago, when I was experimenting with the addition of long flowing curves in a number of different pieces of furniture in an attempt to visually lighten and lift the furniture.

‘My concept was to create an original, sculptural piece that emphasised the form of the object and inner beauty of the salvaged timber rather than showing off the electronics it was going to store. I wanted to show off the internal grain of the cabinet and make any electronic equipment appear to be floating in space, rather than be grounded onto the cabinet.

‘Functionally, I needed a pedestal to support a TV with minimal need for storage of disks, tapes and media equipment. The cabinet had to allow a circulation of air around the electronics and have a given footprint based on the space where it was to be placed. Torsion box construction techniques in the base allowed me to more efficiently utilise the wood that I had, lighten the overall mass of the piece and apply the decorative burl ends.

‘As with the majority of my timber all the jarrah was salvaged through my father’s salvage/firewood business. He acquires timber that is otherwise burnt after commercial clearing operations. Timber which is relatively free from checking, rot and of a suitable size is milled and left to dry for several years.

‘The highly figured jarrah on the top and sides of the cabinet came from one of the worst looking logs my father had brought in. This stands out in my memory because we didn’t actually place it aside to be milled, it seemed too far gone. The log was split in half and burnt from a part bush fire, it was only the promise of the curly grain on the outside of the log that made it worth putting it across the sawbench and taking many hours life from our sawblade. Surprisingly the log yielded enough timber to create three items of furniture for my home.’