It’s a cabinet that tells its own joyful story of fun and lost balloons, but which incorporates a whole range of skills including shaping wood, marquetry and woodcarving.
Timothy Low’s funfair console-style cabinet, made from layers of bendy ply and sycamore, has a hand-carved little girl on its front who has lost her balloons. The multi-coloured balloons, set in resin, are floating away across the cabinet’s top.
The sides of the cabinet have marquetry panels depicting a colourful funfair carousel, with details picked out in 24 carat gold, and Timothy’s signature on the piece is that it has no permanent fixings, making it easy to disassemble and transport back to his home in Singapore.
He’s already completed a coffee table that incorporates a two-piece elm top, with an oak drawer with a sycamore and rosewood inlayed lid – all fitted together using either tongue-and-groove fixings or hand-crafted dovetails.
It’s a beautiful cabinet that is not only perfectly functional, with a structure that makes transportation simple, but a piece of furniture that conjures up memories of childhood and the small and poignant story of a little girl who has (maybe) lost her balloons.
