Vanessa Horig, Tambour door cabinet (FURNITURE 2025)
- Photos:
- Vanessa Horig
- Country
- Netherlands
Vanessa has always been fascinated by tambour doors and how they work. She developed and built the tambour door cabinet in June/July 2023 in order to understand the craft and learn how to build a tambour door. In order to showcase the tactile beauty of this technique of making doors, they wrap all around the cabinet. The doors are quite long and are visible even when the cabinet is open, as compared to traditional tambour doors that are hidden away when open. Tambour doors are flexible sliding doors that run in two grooves in the top and bottom of the cabinet. They are made out of multiple slats that are held together by glueing a canvas fabric onto the back of them. Not only are they a space saving way of implementing doors in a cabinet, they also add a wonderful visual, tactile and auditory element to a piece of furniture. If made well, the sliding sensation is smooth and almost magical. A lovely way to interact with a piece of furniture. The piece is conceptualised as a cabinet floating on a leg frame. The open design showcases the doors as they wrap around the cabinet, leaving them visible even when the cabinet is open. The design language of the cabinet is all about the interactions between square and round forms. The leg frame pops through the top of the cabinet in a beautifully designed and executed detail that showcases the contrast between Oak endgrain and long grain. On the inside, the cabinet has two drawers with a grainmatched front, and a shelf above. White is used as the contrast colour to a natural oak finish. The entire cabinet is solid wood, and routed handles that have been painted white have been added as details in the door and drawer fronts. The cabinet itself is joint using sliding dovetails to allow for wood movement and prevent warping. Vanessa Horig (1992) is a furniture designer and maker based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She designs and makes bespoke furniture for clients, as well as pieces for her own collection.
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