Peter Young, Drinks Cabinet (CHESTS, CABINETS & BOXES 2024)

Photos:

Greg Piper

This cabinet was inspired by the work of Art Deco designer Emile Ruhlmann including his signature torpedo legs. The design started with some exquisite Queensland maple veneer in sheets large enough for doors and panels. How to do justice to such beautiful material? Ruhlmann seemed to be the answer but with a contemporary approach to making. The top and sides are frame and panel construction with the veneer laid up on plywood. For a seamless look the top is mitred to the end panels which are in turn mitred to the front vertical elements. The veneer on the top panel is book matched and carefully laid up so the chatoyance matches the diagonal door. the technique for making the legs is complex and involves sandwiching 3mm silver ash between rectangular blanks of Queensland maple, cutting and re-gluing through several steps. The result is a long square section blank with intersecting silver ash lines running through it. The torpedo shape is achieved on the the lathe and then the facets are hand planed using the silver ash strips as land marks. Finally the silver ash sabot are added using a round tenon. The doors are also frame and panel construction around a plywood panel, the veneer is applied over the top and then a silver ash lipping applied around the edges. To achieve the wallpaper effect on the inside of the cabinet I used silver ash veneer strips cut across the grain at 30 degrees and then flipped every second strip to make a herringbone pattern which can only be seen if you look very closely. The strong chatoyance of the silver ash produces the illusion of light and dark stripes. The drawer has hand cut dovetails, and drawer slips with a different Queensland maple veneer used for the drawer bottom. It's been a huge amount of work with very close attention to detail and huge frustration at times but very rewarding to get it finished.

Images have been resized for web display, which may cause some loss of image quality. Note: Original high-resolution images are used for judging.