A box (like any small item) is easy to examine closely - in fact it positively invites it. Pick it up and turn it this way and that against the light; run your fingers over the surface - silky smooth but with the natural texture of real timber still detectable; check out, perhaps, some small but beautifully formed dovetails, or maybe mitre joints with contrasting keys. In the case of mitred boxes, follow the grain as it runs continuously round the sides until it arrives back where it began.
But there's more to boxes than outward appearances. What's the interior like? What does it contain? Open the lid and explore further. Maybe there's something beautiful in there, given added aesthetic value by sumptuous velvet or leather trim?
Reflect a little, perhaps, on the making process: if it's one of mine, then it was not turned out on a production line but crafted on a bench with hand tools, all of which would be recognisable to artisans from ages past, in a garden workshop with bird-song coming through the open door and maybe Classic FM playing their Smooth Classics on the shop radio. There's something special about that.
Here are a few examples.
But there's more to boxes than outward appearances. What's the interior like? What does it contain? Open the lid and explore further. Maybe there's something beautiful in there, given added aesthetic value by sumptuous velvet or leather trim?
Reflect a little, perhaps, on the making process: if it's one of mine, then it was not turned out on a production line but crafted on a bench with hand tools, all of which would be recognisable to artisans from ages past, in a garden workshop with bird-song coming through the open door and maybe Classic FM playing their Smooth Classics on the shop radio. There's something special about that.
Here are a few examples.
Octagonal Jewellery TowerThis was designed and made as a 35th wedding anniversary present for my wife. The inspiration came when a gold chain became tangled and required the attention of a jeweller to rectify.
I decided to design a jewellery box that had space for chains to hang vertically, and after much sketching and scribbling this emerged from the tangle of lines. The tower rotates on a bearing allowing access to more cupboards and drawers on the reverse. |
His and Hers Jewellery BoxMade as a wedding gift, this box features curved lids shaped from solid maple, dovetailed corners highlighted by contrasting timbers, and fitted interiors with lift-out trays and suede trim
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Jewellery Box with DrawerCommissioned as a wedding gift, this was made to fit into regulation airline hand luggage for transport to the USA! It's in ash and African padauk, lined in purple suede as specified by the client.
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