Sight Unseen
Tambour Cabinet
Designed during my time with Jonas Stokke, we collaborated with Paul Loebach for Sight Unseen for the Norway/New York exhibit in 2018. The cabinet tkaes inspiration form the fluidity of metal shutters seen on shop-fronts across the world, whether that is corner shops in the UK or bodega doors in New York. The intention of this was to take inspiration from a ubiquitous, material, method and gesture whilst exemplifying, and highlighting the beauty of it.
The design process for this cabinet required intense working, prototyping, testing and iteration, moving from inception to completion in under 5 months. The technical details of the cabinet meant that it needed to be engineered to very high tolerances. This high engineering standard is what delivers such a unique and high quality finish to the cabinet.
Originally our concept was to manufacture the cabinet from machined aluminium parts, however, largely for cost purposes we decided to manufacture it out of Ash. We were especially pleased with the finished piece. Technically and aesthetically detailed, the object is not only beautiful, but functions incredibly smoothly thanks to the use of bearings on the tambours.
The final piece was exhibited at Norway/New York as part of Sight Unseen Offsite at New York Design Week 2018
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The final piece was exhibited at Norway/New York as part of Sight Unseen Offsite at New York Design Week 2018
Peter D Webster — industrial designer, researcher and strategist — +44 7519 368 186 — pw@websterp.com — @weterpebster