Redesigning Cabinet No.6

When I first started designing furniture I was producing one-of-a-kind designs.  And I was never really happy with that process.  The design effort I put into each piece is so significant that producing only one of a certain design just felt like a loss.  With reproducible designs, I can spend more time with each piece and perfect each design.  This is proving to be the case again with the passage of time.

I designed and released the original Cabinet No.6 in 2008.  Now in 2012, after four years of developing as a designer, I am motivated to spend more time perfecting the concept of Cabinet No.6.  I have always loved the concept but I see room for improvement... or should I say, opportunity to make it more itself (I consider design to be more an act of revealing what is meant to be more than an act of creation)!

The redesign addresses aesthetic and functional issues.  It's strange to look back and remember the constraints that shaped Cabinet No.6.  At the time of its release we were using 5'x5' sheets of Baltic Birch plywood.  This is an interesting material and it has strengths, but practically speaking the sheets of wood restricted the height of the piece to 60".  Free of this constraint,  I made the piece 10 inches taller... which is the proper height for this design.  The height change is really the key to the redesign.  That taller piece is more elegant, and it addresses the second issue, functionality.

The 60 inch height of the original design restricted the shelf height of the interior storage.  And while visceral design is my first concern for the Dust line, the deficiency in interior functional storage was not acceptable.  So, the added 10 inches of height frees up the interior layout of the piece making the design as useful functionally as it is beautiful.

So, the piece is in the paint booth this very moment.  We're planning a photo shoot in the coming days and I'm excited to re-release this piece!  Check back soon for the redesigned Cabinet No.6!!

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