Mid-century Modern Album and Media Cabinets

About The Project

These two cabinets were commissioned to hold the customer’s vinyl albums and audio equipment. Both cabinets are constructed with waterfall mitred corner joints. In this technique the grain of the wood continues (waterfalls) from one side of the joint to the other. This results in the grain continuing from the left side up onto the top and then down onto the right side.

The media cabinet is veneered in eucalyptus. Eucalyptus is typically grown and harvested in its indigenous home of Australia and Tasmania, and on plantations in South America, Spain and Portugal. A unique property of the wood is the dramatic bee’s wing pattern that forms in the grain. The pattern shows the beauty of nature, in particular when the sun illuminates it. The veneer was applied in a slip matched pattern. In this process, the veneer slices are consecutively laid out and glued together along opposing edges, much like dealing a deck of cards. This results in a matching grain pattern repeating across the surface of the cabinet.

The cabinet’s two sliding doors are inlaid with dyed veneer “footballs.” The customer found this base design, which we then modified to fit the doors. The inlays were cut using a laser cutter.

The album cabinet case is veneered in makore, often called African Cherry. Its pinkish-red to blood-red color features a decorative, ribboned grain. The doors are veneered in willow burl. A wood burl is a rounded outgrowth on a tree trunk, branch, or root system that contains deformed grain with dense, swirling patterns and small knots. These growths are essentially a tree's defense mechanism or response to stress, such as fungal infections, insect damage, viruses, or physical injury. Burls are often sliced into veneer, as their internal grain and color structure is stunning.