Not too long ago, Joseph did a post about a product/art piece called Bush of Iron by designer Nacho Carbonell. This chair/desk combo successfully used the concept of repulsion to create an intriguing aesthetic. Carbonell achieved this by finishing the cast iron piece with multiple strands of outwardly projecting wire spires. Now, Chilean artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz takes this concept a step further: his Magistral Cabinet is covered with thousands of finely honed bamboo skewers.

Magistral Cabinet. Designed by Sebastian Errazuriz.

Camouflage Your Wares with the Magistral Cabinet

If Carbonell’s piece resembled a prickly hedgehog, Errazuriz’s tends more towards a fuzzy guinea pig, yet the effect is much the same. The 80,000 some bamboo skewers were gently—and oh so patiently, one imagines—tapped into place by 12 skilled woodworkers.

The dreamy allure of the final product demonstrates that the painstaking nature of the construction was more than worth the effort. Resembling, in turn, a sand-colored chia pet, a 360 degree bed of nails, and some imposingly fuzzy yet ultimately genial beast from the mind of Tim Burton (or perhaps Dr. Seuss), Magistral is undeniably hypnotic. And that’s just in its closed state.

Only once Errazuriz or one of his 12 cohorts hands over the keys to the kingdom in the form of Magistral’s secret hinges, apertures, niches, and nooks, does the piece really blossom and bloom. In fact, with its cabinetry wide open and the full extent of its copious storage space revealed, Magistral is magisterial indeed. It’s an artful piece of functional furniture (or perhaps functional art) worthy of the measure-less treasure troves of Sinbad himself.

Via MocoLoco.

About the Designer: Chilean artist and designer Sebastian Errazuriz intends to “create works that can remind people of their mortality, invite them to look again at their lives, and question their daily routines.” It’s the bit about mortality that intrigues me the most, as the bulk of his fascinating sculptures, intriguing public art works, provocative consumer objects, and ravishing furniture seems invested in questions of life and death. Favorites include his Panchito acrylic human skull, his aerodynamic Delta Sofa and Chair, and his El Santo Halo Hybrid Lamp/Chair.