Neale Grimes, Eltham, VIC

Basic
Blackbean
120 x 120 x 120mm

To make the box I used what I think is blackbean. It was salvaged from the Royal Children’s Hospital research facility as an old bench top.

Method of Construction
I constructed a cube with simple mitre joins to give a seamless finish. I then cut it diagonally in half with a Japanese saw and drilled a hole in the centre with a 30mm forstner bit. I then fitted the inner box. The whole box was glued with PVA and finished with burnishing oil.
To me, the beauty of a box is in its simplicity and I don’t believe that it should be taken too far beyond this concept. When designing for this brief my intention was to keep the finished product very clean and minimal, using only the most basic and pure geometric forms. I found it interesting experimenting with the cutting of these forms on different angles wanting to move away from the conventional box. So I came up with a simple intersection of shapes that still allowed the richness of the wood to speak for itself. When closed there is a sense of balance and yet contrast between the square and the circle. When open, there is a new sense of depth when new shapes are created and revealed.

Photos: Neale Grimes