Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Have Liquor Cabinet, Will Travel - Part 1

Hello!

So, I use to work for a large housewares company here in the California bay area (I don't know why I'm being so secretive). One of the most glorious things about working at said company was the quarterly sample sales. There, employees got to battle it out for samples, inspiration pieces, and vendor freebies that the design arm of each brand didn't or doesn't want anymore. Since I worked as a designer in one of the brands at this company, I was well versed in what was a sample worth having and what was not. One such item was the mystery box below.


I saw this item on the floor and was curious to know what it was. So, I opened it and...


Lo and behold, une armoire liqueur voyage! There were slots for stemware, a place for liquor bottles and drawers for all the accoutrements one would need to create the perfect drink whilst away from home base. I picked up this item for it's uniqueness. It's not everyday you encounter a person with a traveling liquor cabinet. The bottle and glassware you see in the photo were not present when I purchased the box; these pieces I picked up later on at the sample sale.


Once I got this item home, I decided it needed to have it's hardware changed. It was fine as is, but the handles were weak (made of a soft metal) and would not be able to hold a decanter full liquor and crystal stemware. I had the misfortune of dropping it once while in line at the sale due to handle failure, hey it IS a sample after all. My guess is that this item came from one of our Indonesian vendors from a sister brand. The bones were right on this piece and it had a lot of potential.

In part two, I'll show you some of the improvements I've done so far!

-HWC

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