Solomon’s Cabinets: Clavicula

44″w, 19″h, 17″d, mahogany, jarrah, gold leaf

“Clavicula” (“Key” in Latin) is part of a series of cabinets which use the abstract vocabulary of Islamic geometry to illustrate legends of the biblical King Solomon. During the Renaissance, a whole body of legends sprang up around Solomon having to do with sorcery, alchemy, and demonology. The “Clavicula Salomonis” (in Latin, though there were also Greek and Hebrew versions) was a grimoire from this era, pseudepigraphically attributed to Solomon and filled with seals or “pentacles” (often six- or seven-pointed) to be used as part of magical experiments. Solomon is said to have locked his harem with such seals. Here, I’ve criss-crossed three doors with an over-under lattice of six-fold geometry, “sealed” with a seven-pointed polygon. The slats are carved and gilt, to form undulating golden curves, suggesting the harem imprisoned. The interior of the cabinet features various of the actual “pentacles” from the books of magic, inlaid in quilted mahogany. With three ornamented doors, the cabinet can be mounted on a stand or hung on a wall with a French clete (as pictured).

Solomon’s Cabinets: Altajwal

44″w, 19″h, 17″d, maple, holly, anigre

“Altajwal” (“The wanderings” in Arabic) is part of a series of cabinets which use the abstract vocabulary of Islamic geometry to illustrate legends of the biblical King Solomon. In the Talmudic tradition, Solomon is tricked out of his homeland by the Prince of Demons, and forced to wander lost in the desert for a number of years. I’ve taken a traditional biomorphic Mamluk pattern often found in stonework and carved much of it away to suggest ruins submerged in sand dunes.

The story goes that the demon-prince, Ashmedai, takes Solomon’s magic ring and throws it miles away into the Mediterranean. After years of wandering as a beggar, Solomon is eating a fish when he bites down to find his own ring in its stomach. Like many such legends, the story also appears in Herodotus, though its origin may be in some third earlier source. Here I’ve used two brass pulls on carved drawers hidden within the cabinet: one as the eye of the fish, the other as the ring in its belly. I wanted to carve a fish that might have been eaten in the ancient Middle East, but the ecosystem of the Mediterranean has changed drastically since the construction of the Suez Canal. In my research I found the Argyrosomus regius (“Royal drum fish” in Latin), similar to a bass, which is also known by the common name “jewfish,” and used it as my model.

With two sliding doors and two concealed drawers, the cabinet can be mounted on a stand or hung on a wall with a French clete (as pictured).

Solomon’s Cabinets: Aljinu

44″w, 19″h, 17″d, mahogany, walnut, cherry, jarrah, ash, gold leaf

“Aljinu” (“The djinn” in Arabic) is part of a series of cabinets which use the abstract vocabulary of Islamic geometry to illustrate legends of the biblical King Solomon. In the Islamic tradition, Solomon builds the Temple by controlling an army of djinn. The djinn are said to come from a world made of fire, and are sometimes depicted as fantastical animal hybrids. Here, I’ve used gold to suggest fire, a horseshoe arch to suggest a portal, and non-repeating patterns with varied woods to suggest a chaotic, unpredictable world. The djinn themselves look out from the centers of stars: a winged sphinx, a horned goat man, a Medusa-like creature, a salamander with a fiery tail. With two doors and a display space at one end, the cabinet can be mounted on a stand or hung on a wall with a French clete (as pictured).

* geometry note: Both the larger lattice and the smaller gold patterns are based on Penrose tilings. And where most Islamic lattice adopts either a mitered or an under-over approach at intersections, here I’ve done both: over-under in the ten-pointed star segments, mitered at all other intersections.

Solomon’s Cabinets: Wadi Alnaml

44″w, 19″h, 17″d, walnut, ebonized walnut, silver wax

“Wadi Alnaml” is part of a series of cabinets which use the abstract vocabulary of Islamic geometry to illustrate legends of the biblical King Solomon. Translated from Arabic as “Valley of the Ants,” the title refers to the 27th chapter of the Quran, within which Solomon (who can understand the languages of all creatures) overhears an ant queen warning her subjects that the armies of the great king are coming and will crush them. Solomon is amused and either diverts his army to travel only on one side of the valley or, in another version, crosses the valley on a flying carpet . Here, I’ve used a circular Kufic script to write out the words “Wadi Alnaml” three times, and suggested the burrowing of the ants with organic lines which a pattern of five- and ten-pointed stars shine between. With two doors and an open display space at the center, the cabinet can be mounted on a stand or hung on a wall with a French clete (as pictured).

Solomon’s Cabinets: Al Tabut

44″w, 31″h, 17″ d, walnut, wenge, holly

“Al Tabut” (“the ark” in Arabic) is part of a series of cabinets which use the abstract vocabulary of Islamic geometry to illustrate legends of the biblical King Solomon. Among his many accomplishments, Solomon is said to have built the first temple to house the Ark of the Covenant. Here I’ve used a dense dark latticed border around a simpler rectangle of holly to suggest something heavy and ornate guarding something simple and precious. The two ornamented sliding doors conceal a single drawer. Like the other pieces in the series, the cabinet can be mounted on a stand (as pictured) or hung on a wall with a French clete.

* geometry note: This 8-pointed star pattern, fairly common in Mamluk latticework, is complicated here by making parts of the pattern curved, other parts straight, and allowing them to interact.

Landworth Sideboard

60″x20″x36″ walnut and wenge

An expanded reworking of an earlier design, this sideboard has three drawers with intricate latticework, two sliding doors, and a floating bookmatched top.

“Landworth Sideboard”

My first piece with the Beston Barnett logo inlaid into the side!

These slabs of bookmatched claro walnut have a lot of color.

Bronner Sideboard

60″x20″x36″ walnut and wenge

With three small drawers and two sliding doors, this sideboard combines a Chinese silhouette with contemporary lines, exposed joinery, and rich contrasting wood grains.

Through dovetails and mortise-and-tenon joints complement Chinese legs and a floating top.

Bookmatched walnut top with wenge butterfly keys and a hint of shaping to accentuate the grain.

 

Walnut Vanity

40″x33″x18″, walnut, porcelain sink, and Fortis faucets

Two drawers and two doors, all with soft-closing hardware, quilted solid walnut, and a modern Japanese aesthetic make this vanity both practical and beautiful.

Handcut dovetails, bronze hardware, and a quirky asymmetry lend this facade its Japanese mystique.

Arab Spring #2

13″x14″x21″  cherry, bleached alder, cocobolo, latex paint, and white wax

The “Arab Spring” series incorporates Egyptian geometries and grafitti-inspired calligraphy, allowing me to experiment with more relief work on the CNC router. I was so happy with my original three-drawer piece  that I decided to make another with a few changes: cherry wood and bleach to lighten the overall effect and a bottom shelf for magazines.

“Arab Spring #2”, cherry, bleached alder, cocobolo, latex paint, and white wax

Moving clockwise around the box, the calligraphy spells out the words “Arab Spring” in Arabic.

I had an idea that the entire drawers, not just the drawer fronts, could become part of the design if they were housed in a frame rather than a box.

In this close-up, you can see the intricate relief carving which wraps all the way around the back of the box.

Arab Spring

21″x14″x13″, walnut, tamo ash, dye, graphite

This piece was a commission in which the client let me run wild. Playing with the Egyptian geometries I’ve been interested in, and adding some grafitti-inspired calligraphy allowed me to experiment with more relief work on the CNC router. The idea for a floating black cube was very much inspired by the Kaaba in Mecca.

“Arab Spring”

I had an idea that the entire drawers, not just the drawer fronts, could become part of the design if they were housed in a frame rather than a box.

In this close-up, you can see the intricate relief carving more clearly.

The three drawers, with their hand-carved pulls, are sized to fit paper, pencils, staplers, and other desk goodies.

The relief calligraphy wraps around all four sides of the black cube. I imagined these drawers sitting on a desktop, where they could be seen in the round, like a sculpture.

Here I’ve pasted together photos of each face of the cube. Reading from right to left, the calligraphy spells out the word “Arab Spring” in Arabic.

Monkey Tail Desk

45″x22″x59″, walnut ply

This fun, compact desk – with its book cubbies, pencil slot, hinged top, and built-in “monkey tail” lamp – was cut out, joints and all,  from one and a half sheets of walnut ply on a CNC router.

The top opens and closes like an old-timey school desk, with a special tensioned hinge that keeps it from slamming.

Joinery made on a CNC machine has all these funny “dogbone” shapes, because the router can’t cut square inside corners. The strangely shaped mortises become a design element.

Brantuas’ Sideboard and Cabinet

table: 57″x20″x41″, cabinet: 46″x17″x16″, walnut and ebonized walnut

Square Kufic – an ancient form of Arabic calligraphy – ornaments a sideboard table and matching wall cabinet of solid walnut.

The client’s name, “Brantuas”, is transliterated into Kufic and then repeated as a design motif in the facade’s carving.

The sculpted legs were designed to match chairs in the client’s dining room.

Dovetailed Shoe Bench

38″x14″x21″  walnut

A bench, two shelves for shoes, and drawer for whatever’s in your pocket when you come in the door.  All from scrap walnut lying around the shop.

Detail of the extra-giant dovetails on the sides of the bench.

I experimented with a natural edge and a band-aid-like butterfly key.

Ingo’s Bench

44″x44″x17″, cherry ply

L-shaped seating and storage for a small kitchen nook.

Quarter-sawn cherry ply was hard to find, but necessary to match the client’s kitchen cabinetry.

Special tensioned hinges hold the lids open and keep them from slamming.

Ruben’s Cabinet

36″x20″x46″, maple and maple ply

A simple craftsman-style entertainment center has glass doors and a large soft-close drawer for DVDs.

The maple was carefully dyed to match 90-year-old gumwood built-ins.

Dovetails in the drawer and rare-earth magnets in the door make this cabinet both practical and easy on the eye.

Beehive

20″x20″x15″, walnut and zebrawood

With three large drawers, six small drawers, and a “lazy susan” bearing that allows it to spin 360 degrees, the “Beehive” is both a sculptural marvel and a clever solution for desktop storage.

“Beehive” 20″x20″x15″, walnut and zebrawood

“Desk and Cabinet”, “Mahogany Chair”, and “Beehive”

Each drawer bottom reveals a different zebrawood parquetry pattern.

The drawers all open in different ways, but all are held softly closed by embedded rare-earth magnets.

Every drawer configuration seems to produce a unique sculpture.

Shaping thick layers of solid wood produced these parabolas in the drawer fronts.

A detail of the handcut dovetails, each a different size.

Desk and Cabinet

61″x33″x29″, walnut, tamo ash, and birch ply

This asymmetric desk features a bookmatched solid top, long drawers and hanging file folders, an extendable keyboard shelf, and beautiful exposed joinery.

Here’s the whole set, including “Desk and Cabinet”, “Mahogany Chair”, “Beehive” and “Printer Stand.”

Surprise! The somber exterior is relieved by the whimsy of brightly-tinted tamo ash drawers.

Bright green finger joints in birch plywood.

Dovetails strengthen the solid wood carcasse while mitering helps the desktop seem to float.

A detail of gorgeous exposed tenons and under-structure.

Printer Stand

16″x17″x24″, walnut, tamo ash, and birch ply

This solid walnut printer stand combines exposed joinery, modern lines, and a practical layout for storing paper and supplies.

Bright green dye adds a surprise to the dark walnut of the exterior.

A detail of dovetails and swirling wood grain.

Here’s the whole set, including “Desk and Cabinet”, “Mahogany Chair”, “Beehive” and “Printer Stand.”

Sculpted Nightstands

14″x13″x32″, walnut and birch ply

These nightstands have one drawer, asymmetrical book shelves, exposed joinery, and a unique sculptural element.