Jonathan Du Vergier, Riverside, Tasmania

Stratum Cabinet
Huon pine, padauk
1115 x 250 x 250mm

Concept
To design and make a cabinet portraying contemporary style, subtly themed with a flavour of ‘Our Ancient Land’ in its design.
My inspiration behind this theme comes from the land that our modern world is built upon. The many different layers of earth or ‘stratum’ underneath us, upon which, our modern society is built. Each layer was at the forefront of history in its time, and played a part in the shaping of the next layer. The different colours of the layers and the way they are sometimes in stark contrast to one another represent the dramatic changes in our environment as time goes by.
These different layers and colours can be thought of as being symbolic of how our social styles and preferences change with the times. The next layer of the stratum will represent our time here, and the next chapter of our society must remember what they will also become.

Materials
The cabinet carcase is constructed from Huon pine. The Huon pine is only found growing in certain areas within the state of Tasmania, and it was here that it was sourced. The Huon pine is the second longest living tree in the world, behind the Bristle-cone pine of central California. The Huon pine can reach an age of over 3000 years for an individual tree.
The door panel is constructed by laminating Burmese padauk, with a Huon pine layer in the centre. This is then grooved using a v-groove bit freehand on an overhead router. The grooving tool passes through the middle layer of Huon pine, and produces a two tone texture.
The carcase is joined in the corners with mitres. These contain thee biscuits each, along their length. All are machine cut.
The top and bottom shelves, which are flush with the top and bottom of the door, are connected into the carcase sides using traditional Chinese style bird’s mouth / bird’s beak joints. These comprise of a double mitre or wedge shape on the front, which engages with a mortise of the same shape, and twin tenons behind. These were all cut by hand, and provided me with an additional level of satisfaction with the piece.
The cabinet has a traditional frame and panel back, which is removable. This was constructed with mitred corners incorporating central through tenons. This joinery was machined on a router table with a couple of simple jigs.

Glues and Finishes
All parts were glued using standard white PVA, manufactured by AV Syntec. All parts are oil finished, using three coats of ‘Ardvos Oil’ manufactured by Livos.

Photos: Misha Merzliakov