Alice Knight, Low Groove Cabinet (WORLD 2024)

Photos:

Daniel Allen

Country:

New Zealand

Low living room cabinet in Oak. Inspired by Japanese joinery techniques and a love of the Arts & Crafts Movement. The carcase is joined together with half-blind mitred dovetails to give a mitred appearance from the front, a dovetailed appearance from the side and leaving the top of the cabinet clear. I wanted to have the strength and character of dovetails but thought the look of mitres from the front would nicely complement the birds-beak mortise & tenons separating the drawers. The back of the cabinet is kept rigid with a frame & panel slotted flush into a routered rebate. The doors are made with solid timber. I glued the two halves of each door together with a sliding dovetail bracing on the back to keep them straight and allow for movement. The doors are also overlapped to allow for expansion without the appearance of a gap between them in the dryer months. I knew I wanted solid doors in order to create the wide fluting effect on the front which is a central feature of the design. I also wanted to mimic this circular motif throughout the piece with other techniques. The cutout curves framing the drawers help to set them back and create depth. The handles are hand shaped and inset at the same diameter as the fluting. The semi-circle shape on the side bracing of the legs helps to tie the elements together and splays out the legs at a subtle 2 degree angle. The legs are also hand-shaped with a shinto-rasp and files. I’m really happy with how the cabinet turned out and learned a lot of interesting traditional techniques in the process. Dimensions: 925mm x 345mm x 725mm

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