Vanessa has always been fascinated by tambour doors and how they work. She developed and built the cabinet in order to understand the craft and learn how to build a tambour door. She wanted to showcase the tactile beauty of this technique of making doors and let them wrap all around the cabinet.
What are tambour doors?
Tambour doors are flexible sliding doors that run in two grooves in the top and bottom of the cabinet. They are made out of multiple slats, that are held together by gluing a canvas fabric onto the back of them.
What makes tambour doors special is the process of making them. They are made up of many small slats that are time consuming to make, and use a lot of lumber. Not only are they a space saving way of implementing doors in a cabinet, they also add a wonderful visual, tactile and auditory element to a piece of furniture. If made well, the sliding sensation is smooth and almost magical. A lovely way to interact with a piece of furniture.
How has this technique been reimagined?
The piece is conceptualised as a cabinet floating on a leg frame. The open design showcases the doors as they wrap around the cabinet, leaving them visible even when the cabinet is open. The design language of the cabinet is all about the interactions between square and round forms.
The leg frame pops through the top of the cabinet in a beautifully designed and executed detail that showcases the contrast between Oak endgrain and long grain.
On the inside, the cabinet has two drawers with a grainmatched front, and a shelf above. White is used as the contrast colour to a natural oak finish. The entire cabinet is solid wood, and routed handles that have been painted white have been added as details in the door and drawer fronts. The cabinet itself is joint using sliding dovetails to allow for wood movement and prevent warping.
About Vanessa Horig
She is greatly passionate about wood and her craft. She believes in sustainable practices and spread awareness about craftswomanship through her work.
