Liquor Cabinet II
The piece evolved from a full scale model into the final piece by eventually replacing "model parts" with final mahogany parts.
|
|
Not too long after getting my own studio in Oakville in 1993, I stumbled upon someone who was bent on having a significant piece of furniture created to go in the front window of their house, by the baby grand. People like this don't come around often, so I was very excited. However, at first she wanted me to remake my Liquor Cabinet 1, so I had to politely ask her if she'd let me move forward from that design to where I was thinking at the time. She agreed.
Wow. I remember going through my sketch book of abstract shapes, and mashing lines together with some close up photos of objects taken on a trip to Germany.
So what do you get? Well, the arched section is from a bowtie pasta noodle in the bowl I was holding as I paced around my office, the leg is from an old style Hoover vacuum cleaner, and the foot is from a close up shot of a goat's hoof in the Berlin Zoo. The rest of it I would call "instinctual design glue". The handles are solid ebony, nodding to the piano nearby. Solid black granite top, stainless steel tube. For the top structure to be strong enough to take it's own forces, I had to put two 1/4" aluminum plates in, sandwiching the drawer compartment. Lots of internal bracing and careful mating of parts to pull this one off.
Peter Hogan at Sheridan College let me haul this piece in the back door of the photo studio late at night and helped me take the shot. (Perks of being a grad who shows he's making an effort, thanks Peter.) I was stubborn to have the 4x6 camera down low so that the viewer would be able to see the fit between the curved under belly and the brushed stainless steel connections. I think the camera was 25 feet back, what a lens.
Pretty wacky piece, and yet, completely functional. Going to the place in my head where this stuff happens makes me drunk without a drop.
Wow. I remember going through my sketch book of abstract shapes, and mashing lines together with some close up photos of objects taken on a trip to Germany.
So what do you get? Well, the arched section is from a bowtie pasta noodle in the bowl I was holding as I paced around my office, the leg is from an old style Hoover vacuum cleaner, and the foot is from a close up shot of a goat's hoof in the Berlin Zoo. The rest of it I would call "instinctual design glue". The handles are solid ebony, nodding to the piano nearby. Solid black granite top, stainless steel tube. For the top structure to be strong enough to take it's own forces, I had to put two 1/4" aluminum plates in, sandwiching the drawer compartment. Lots of internal bracing and careful mating of parts to pull this one off.
Peter Hogan at Sheridan College let me haul this piece in the back door of the photo studio late at night and helped me take the shot. (Perks of being a grad who shows he's making an effort, thanks Peter.) I was stubborn to have the 4x6 camera down low so that the viewer would be able to see the fit between the curved under belly and the brushed stainless steel connections. I think the camera was 25 feet back, what a lens.
Pretty wacky piece, and yet, completely functional. Going to the place in my head where this stuff happens makes me drunk without a drop.
