The Riverstones II Drinks Cabinet was made for the Studio Furniture 18 competition and exhibition at the Bungendore Wood Works Gallery. This design, with its fluted panels in river red gum and distinctive wenge legs, has themes and ideas that we have been playing with for years. Riverstones II was the first purely exhibition piece that we have made in years. With such a great client base, most of our experimental work in recent years has been to commission. With Riverstones II, we simply got to play. One of my key concerns was to show the use of “difficult” Australian timbers (hence the red gum) but also show that we are not completely parochial (hence the wenge and rock maple).
River red gum is a notoriously cranky timber to use. It moves, cracks and generally misbehaves. Many makers consider it to be little better than firewood. Over the years, we have become something of experts at the use of red gum in fine furniture. The fluted panels on the doors of Riverstones II was our way of showing the world just how beautiful red gum could be.
Riverstones II didn’t win the competition element of Studio Furniture 18 but it was well received by the audience. We enjoyed making it and I am very happy with the design.
This piece is available for purchase “off the floor”.
Dimensions: 800mm W x 440mm D x 1000mm H
Timber Types: River red gum, rockmaple and wenge. Other timbers available (POA).