DIGI-WEAVE SHOE CABINET

Category: Furniture & Product, Student Designer

Designer: Tom Morgan
College: Rycotewood Furniture Centre
Wood Supplier: American Hardwood Export Council
Wood Species: American red oak

Influenced by his cordwainer background and inspired by the work of Richard Deacon, Tom Morgan has created a colourful shoe cabinet out of red oak veneer. He began his design by breaking down the wood into smaller strips; the strips were then dyed into various colours and pressed into calico fabric, before being woven together to create a screen that wraps around a solid wood frame, creating the cabinet.

BARBICAN MEZZANINE

Category: Buildings, Interiors

Location: London
Architect: Francisco Sutherland Architects
Structural Engineer: Barton Engineers
Main Contractor/Joinery: Dubel Joinery
Wood Supplier: Tin Tab
Photography: Anton Rodriguez
Wood Species: European oak

The brief for this indoor project was to design a carefully crafted piece of furniture for a flat within the Barbican Estate. The structure slots into the top floor room of the apartment, forming a mezzanine platform, shower room, and creating wardrobes for the master bedroom. The bathroom’s design has been coordinated to work with the flat’s existing communal services, while oak plywood panels with a birch core were chosen to contrast with the hardwood used on the existing staircase.

GYC#1

Category: Furniture & Product, Bespoke

Designer: David Gates
Client/Owner: Sarah Myerscough Gallery
Vitreous enamel on steel panels: Helen Carnac
Wood Supplier: WL West
Wood Species: British elm, ash and cedar of Lebanon, American birds eye maple

Inspired by David Gates’ interest in industrial and agricultural architecture, GYC#1 is a collector’s cabinet that is the first piece in a series; it has been finished completely in black, and was designed to relate to the landscape of the Thames estuary. The look of the piece was achieved through scorching and pigment, and despite seeming unconventional, it was made using precise, traditional techniques.

THE VORTEX, BLOOMBERG

Category: Buildings, Interiors

Location: London
Architect: Foster + Partners
Client/Owner: Bloomberg LP
Structural Engineer: AKT II
Main Contractor: Sir Robert McAlpine
Joinery Company: TMJ
Wood Supplier: Topakustic
Wood Species: American red oak

Located at the main entrance of Bloomberg’s new European headquarters, the Vortex is a dramatic, double-height space made up of three inclined, curving timber shells. Designed by Foster + Partners, the Vortex is a literal and metaphorical ‘twist’ on the classic wood-panelled lobbies found in London. Consisting of a double timber wall, the structure features 6,000 unique panels that had to be put together in a particular sequence; to enter and exit the building, visitors must use the openings between the individual timber shells.

KUDHVA

Category: Buildings, Small Project

Location: Cornwall
Architect: New British Design
Client/Owner: Louise Middleton
Main Contractor/Joinery: Toby Sharp
Wood Supplier: New World Timber
Wood Species: Larch, Southern yellow pine, paged pine plywood

Forming part of a wider, long-term strategy for the creative use of a dis-used quarry on the north coast of Cornwall, Kudhva are a series of prototype wilderness cabins; the Kudhva – meaning ‘hideout’ in Cornish – have been designed as a physical manifestation of the client’s approach to natural living. Predominantly made from wood, the cabins have been designed to touch lightly on the ground and work completely off-grid; these temporary structures can be moved around the site, or removed as the quarry changes in the years to come.

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