Designed 1998
40"W-18"D-74"H
Mai Dou burl and laminated rice paper glass

First let me explain the title. Ernesto Seggarra was an assistant whose help I needed in order to finish this object on a tight dead line, so in order to have him help me on nights and weekends I promised to name the object after him if we finished on time, hence the title.

This object is designed for storage but it is about volume and how we experience volume. The form is greater in depth at the top than it is at the bottom so that the object swells spatially as it goes up. The doors are opaque and appear thicker than they really are based on the edge detail. The sides of the case are a Japanese glass where rice paper is laminated between two pains of clear glass. This allows the viewer to see through the object from the side but the quality is as if looking though a gentle snowfall. The top is clear glass framed in wood and each shelf inside is treated the same way allowing light to filter down through the object and out through the rice paper glass on the sides. The over all effect is an object that when viewed directly on is massive and volumetric, but from the side is very light and ethereal. The geometric pattern of the burl veneer is referential to classic French deco, so that this object has a kind of Ruhlman goes to Kyoto feel.