A Case for Cabinets

One of the anticipated shows of late 2021 was Distant Symphony by Rooms Studio, which was on view at Emma Scully Gallery in NYC after a long trip from its city of origin of Tbilisi, Georgia. Designers Nata Janberidze and Keti Toloraia created the stunning, oversized piece to hold “secrets and trinkets from the past” - a bold statement on memory and heritage. The large cabinet features relief details in blackened copper of both traditional Georgian and personal iconography, a testament to Rooms Studios’ talent of marrying the ancient and recent past, while directing their work to a distinctive aesthetic present.

Photography by Levan Maisuadze

Photography by Levan Maisuadze

Another design duo, Uruguayan-born and LA-based, Emiliana Gonzalez and Jessie Young - known as Estudio Persona - presented the PEEL cabinet in an exhibition by UNNO Gallery presented at Casa Ortega in Mexico City last February, during the city-wide Zona Maco art fair. The Aluminum Cabinet explores the possibilities of a single element being multifunctional – the solid doors are cut and bent to become the handles, revealing a terracotta interior.

Polish designer Marcin Rusak showcased a collection of cabinets thought as an homage to Austrian designer Josef Frank’s iconic Flora cabinet, during Design Miami/ in December 2021, in collaboration with Manhattan’s Twenty First Gallery. His work, a study of dried flowers and leaves suspended in resin or sprayed in metal, is heavily inspired by his family’s flower business. The Flora Contemporaria introduces a collection of four cabinets that incorporate the same techniques, where nature’s most beautiful and ephemeral blossoms are frozen in romantic imagery.

Photography by Adrianna Glaviano

Photography by Adrianna Glaviano

Klown Town, an exhibition on view from February 10th to April 21st, presents new work by acclaimed designer Katie Stout at R & Company's 64 White Street gallery in Tribeca. Among the many pieces on view, the stand-out work is her large-scale cabinet made of bronze, inlaid with finely crafted ceramic. It is a mixture of romantic florals and nude characters that reference Stouts’ past work of human-sized lamps in the form of playful bodies.

Photography by Joe Kramm