It’s a drinks cabinet inspired by a line from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
“The Kissing Cabinet” is the creation of Rachel Faulkner from Newcastle, who originally served in the Merchant Navy.
During the course, she has not only shown enormous artistic talent, but the woodworking skills to turn imagination into reality.
Her last project was to carve a pair of intertwined hands into lime for her required course mirror.
On top of carving she is also a master of the visual arts. A second mirror of a naked woman is a gilded accomplishment in red, yellow and white gold.
By then, she had already completed a sycamore and elm bench, with three images of her dog Skipper. They depicted him waking up, having a swim and having a much-needed sleep.
The images were recreated on the bench using stained wood filler as a base. This was then painted with water colours and etched using a pyrography pen.
Now she has turned to the Bard for inspiration and a line that Romeo speaks to Juliet.
“Let lips do what hands do.”
The Kissing Cabinet is made from sycamore with cherry and sycamore veneers, brass and copper inlays, and sits on brass hairpin legs.
But its playfulness lies in its two outer sliding doors that are shaped into androgynous heads.
Open the doors, and the heads move innocently apart.
But close the cabinet’s doors and the heads kiss one another.
It’s a fun but functional piece of furniture, and a beautifully-made talking point.
Rachel’s enormous strength is to incorporate her artistic talent into her woodworking.
It therefore means that her pieces are utterly original, and that’s something that buyers of fine furniture are always looking for.
Rachel will be staying on with us after graduation, working from incubation space on the school campus.
It allows alumni of the school to set up in business without the expense of buying tools and machinery.
Her business is called The Creative Woodsmith, and you can see her website here.
