River Cabinet

This one-of-a-kind cabinet was commissioned for Canada's embassy in Washington DC, and was designed in collaboration with artist Adrian Göllner.

Inside the cabinet's single concealed drawer is a panel bearing the following inscription:

The River Cabinet is a tribute to the rivers of Canada and the United States of America. Its flowing shape and rippling surface pattern suggest the power of these great waterways, while the rich wood colour recalls the lumber industries that grew up along the banks of these rivers in the 19th century.

The cabinet is faced with ash wood reclaimed from the bottom Ottawa River in Ontario and cypress wood recovered from the St. Johns River in Florida. That these trees were felled more than a century ago and were seedlings hundreds of years before that, the growth rings trace us to a time well before Canada was a dominion and before the US declared its independence. Indeed, this aspect of time is combined with a sense of how the many rivers of North America traverse the continent, became the first means of transportation and how they were essential to the development of both nations.

Ebonized oak case, facade of ash and cypress end-grain tiles.

92" w x 16" d x 31" h

Special thanks go to Log's End in Ottawa, Ontario and E.T. Moore Manufacturing Inc. in Richmond, Virginia for graciously providing the unique reclaimed materials needed to create this piece.