Jonathan Du Vergier, Riverside, Tasmania

Aquatic Cabinet
Tasmanian myrtle, rock maple
1100 x 400 x 680mm

Concept
The original idea behind the design was to build a cabinet that would safely support a large tropical fish tank, but now that it’s finished, I feel that it looks great on its own.
I designed the proportions of the cabinet using the Golden Mean and this has certainly helped achieve a look that seems resolved. The door handles are my signature part of the design. These are constructed using a series of jigs on an overhead router.
During the initial design process, it became apparent for the need to use tambours for the doors, as I wanted to have a movement that kept in tune with the flow of the corners and also because of the level of difficulty that can be associated with them. I guess that I wanted to push myself, and not compromise the design with something else that was easier to construct.

Materials
The entire cabinet is constructed from solid wood. The carcase is constructed from beautiful Tasmania myrtle, and it was from here that it was sourced. The tambour doors and side panels are made from rock maple, as I required both a light timber to represent the light sands of Australia and also a timber that would be strong and resistant to abrasion over time from the movement of the door. This was sourced from Australian Furniture Timbers in Victoria.
The internal drawers are also made from this combination, in order to continue this colour scheme throughout the design.

Joinery
The carcase top and bottom are joined to the uprights in each corner with mortise and tenon joinery. This involved routing mortises in the adjoining parts, and them inserting a custom made myrtle tenon. The sides and central divider are also joined in this manner, and a total of 88 applied tenons are used in total.
The drawers both sit inside a framework within the carcase so as to eliminate them from sticking if the top were to be distorted downwards from the considerable weight of a tank. They are joined with hand cut dovetails at the front, and hand cut mortise and tenons at the rear, with solid myrtle bases. This hand made construction provides me with an additional level of satisfaction with the piece, and reaffirms a personal connection with it.
The tambours each have twin elliptical tenons at both ends, and this enables them to traverse the bends in the tracks without binding. The cabinet has a traditional frame and panel back, which is removable. This was constructed with mortise and tenon joinery, and slides into position from the bottom.

Glues and Finishes
The carcase was glued together using a two part epoxy resign, manufactured by Epiglue. All parts are oil finished, using three coats of Ardvos Oil manufactured by Livos.

Photos: Misha Merzliakov