YannickChastang | Design

"Egret Cabinet"

YannickChastang | Design: "Egret Cabinet" By Yannick Chastang

A collector’s cabinet decorated with marquetry of pink ivory, ebony, and holly.

1.2 metres wide by 45 cm deep and 1.3 metres high

Yannick Chastang with Egret Cabinet

Designed and made by Yannick Chastang

This collector’s cabinet, fitted with 14 drawers behind a pair of marquetry doors, is an uncompromising, luxurious piece of furniture. Its shape is strongly influenced by the furniture made during the 1920s by Jacques-Emile Ruhlmann (1879-1933) while the marquetry decoration finds its source in the great lacquer works produced in Japan during the 17th century, so well known for the quality of their drawing and understanding of space.

The interior of the cabinet is fitted with drawers made of a bright and naturally occurring pink/red wood from Mozambique, commonly known as pink ivory, which offers a striking contrast against the dark ebony exterior. This is reminiscent of the ebony cabinets of the 17th century which were often internally veneered in a rich red turtle shell hidden behind two ebony doors.

The cabinet open

Detail of open drawers made of solid pink ivory and ebony.

The simplicity of this cabinet’s form belies its complex construction. The cabinet is fashioned from some of the hardest woods available today and many technical difficulties needed to be overcome in order to realise the elegant design. The piece of furniture is in itself a triumph of craftsmanship, confronting head-on the innate limitations of difficult techniques and materials.

Combining Traditional Cabinetry With Contemporary Materials

Although the construction of this cabinet is traditional, showing typical 18th century oak frame construction on the back, the internal construction, invisible to the viewer, is made using the latest materials and technology, which have been chosen for their strength and stability. The two doors, in order to be rigid, stable and light, are made of aluminium honeycomb which is concealed beneath the solid ebony edges and the marquetry.

As most species of wood used on this cabinet are extremely hard to work, all veneers have been saw cut at a thickness three times thicker than the commonly available commercial veneers, resulting in a more stable and also a more colourful marquetry. The thickness and hardness of the veneer meant that the marquetry could only be cut using the traditional piercing saw and marquetry donkey technique. Even the strongest laser beam, now commonly used when making marquetry, would not be able to cut through the hard ebony veneer.

This cabinet, unique in its design and quality of veneer, took over 750 hours of work to complete in Yannick Chastang’s workshop in Kent, UK.