The Adaptable Educator’s Book Review – 500 Cabinets: A Showcase of Design & Craftsmanship, edited Ray Hemachandra

In 500 Cabinets: A Showcase of Design & Craftsmanship, editor Ray Hemachandra orchestrates an exquisite symphony of form, function, and fantasy, offering a sumptuous visual anthology that redefines the cabinet not merely as a utilitarian object but as a philosophical and artistic proposition. Published as part of Lark Books’ renowned “500 Series,” this volume succeeds not only in cataloguing masterful craftsmanship but also in elevating the cabinet into the realm of sculptural and conceptual art.

At first glance, the book presents itself as a coffee-table tome—lushly photographed, richly printed, and inviting to the tactile senses. Yet beneath this surface lies a curatorial intent of rare depth. Hemachandra’s selection of works represents a cross-section of global voices in contemporary furniture making—from classically trained woodworkers to experimental studio artists pushing the boundaries of design language. Each cabinet, drawer, or case is a meditation on containment, concealment, and revelation—offering intimate metaphors for memory, identity, and the human desire to order chaos.

What distinguishes 500 Cabinets from more pedestrian collections is its embrace of contradiction and diversity. Here, Shaker simplicity shares a page with postmodern exuberance. Cabinets formed from rare woods exist in quiet conversation with pieces that incorporate metal, glass, found objects, and even narrative illustration. Some cabinets function traditionally, inviting touch and use; others resist engagement, standing as conceptual provocations—artifacts of imagined cultures or private mythologies. In this way, the book asks: What does a cabinet contain beyond objects? Ideas? Histories? Secrets?

A literary scholar may be tempted to read this volume as a physical lexicon of metaphor. The cabinet, after all, has a long history in literature and philosophy—whether as the private room of contemplation (the cabinet of curiosities), the secret-holding drawer, or the symbolic “closet” of identity. In these pages, one finds cabinets that conceal surprise compartments like narrative twists; others open along unexpected angles, recalling the nonlinearity of memory or stream-of-consciousness prose. The visual sequence of the book becomes, in itself, a poetic form—each turn of the page another stanza in a larger conversation about containment and release.

The accompanying descriptions are minimal, allowing the works to speak in their own visual dialects. While this may frustrate readers seeking technical details or maker commentary, it aligns with the book’s curatorial ethos: these are not instruction manuals but meditations. The silence around the works cultivates a contemplative space akin to a gallery, inviting viewers to bring their own interpretations to bear.

In an age of digital impermanence, 500 Cabinets serves as a tactile archive of a physical discipline in dialogue with abstraction. It affirms that fine woodworking and design are not relics of the past, but living practices that continue to evolve with material innovation and conceptual daring. For artists, designers, and scholars alike, the book is a vital source of inspiration—one that respects the legacy of the cabinet as both vessel and voice.

A masterfully curated and intellectually rich visual anthology, 500 Cabinets transcends craft and becomes a quiet treatise on space, story, and the soul of making.