A box is certainly not just a container--especially when some of today’s top designers and craftspeople use their imagination and skill to explore its possibilities. Representing traditional woodworking techniques, such as joinery, carving, marquetry, and lathe turning, and incorporating a surprising variety of materials, these wonderful designs add a new twist to the fascinating interplay of form and function.

Featuring 400 outstanding works that showcase a wide range of woodworking techniques, this superb gallery celebrates the art of the wood box. Each one has been carefully chosen by renowned artisan Tony Lydgate and is presented through exquisite color photography. Many of the designs are also shown in supplementary photos that highlight one-of-a-kind details.

Boxes are some of the most familiar, commonplace items in our everyday life. Perhaps it’s the very humility of this container that inspires artists and craftspeople to lavish on it all the beauty, workmanship, and ingenuity usually reserved for less ubiquitous objects. The examples that follow do exactly that.

The intricate and organic designs of Jim Christiansen, fashioned from burls of maple, black locust, and other woods, are an effort to show that this type of art comes from the earth. "All creation," says Christiansen, "is related to natural processes of birth, growth, death, and renewal."

Introduction

The Boxes

Acknowledgments

Index