Shown in Macassar ebony, quilted maple, silk, gold;
96″ x 24″ x 78″.
The Kimono Cabinet was commissioned by a client, the wife asking me to surprise her husband on an important birthday. The request was “pull out all the stops”. I did. The Kimono Cabinet has six secret compartments, each with a separate sequence of movements before the compartment can be found or opened. The doors are opened by engaging a hidden magnetic field which releases locking pins. When a door is opened, another magnetic field is broken, and after a 1.5 second delay, lights in the cabinet slowly ramp up to illuminate the interior. All the curved forms in the Kimono Cabinet are bent, tapered laminations. The drawers are all hand-cut dovetails on curved, sequenced fronts. All hardware was handmade. Certainly the most difficult, time-consuming and spectacular piece I have been asked to make.
