Juke Joint - WIP

Currently in the works on Juke Joint Cabinet, which is a small archive and drinks cabinet that draws inspiration from the architecture and social history of African American juke joints—informal spaces built from reclaimed materials that became places of music, community, and resilience. Rather than directly referencing their appearance, the cabinet translates their spirit through construction.

A monolithic aluminium shell forms the exterior. Shapes are cut from this outer skin and are not discarded; instead, they become structural metal inlays that join reclaimed timber components within the inner cabinet. Material removed from one part of the object is repurposed to construct another, creating a direct physical relationship between exterior and interior through a single act of fabrication.

The reclaimed hardwood retains traces of its previous life—old mortises, nail holes, paint remnants, and repairs—while the aluminium inlays act as both decoration and joinery, celebrating repair as construction rather than concealment. The result is an object that explores transformation, labour, and resourcefulness, where waste becomes structure and making itself becomes the narrative.

Designed as a contemporary archive cabinet for the office or home, the piece reimagines the juke joint not as a literal historical reference, but as a metaphor for adaptation: a place where limited resources are transformed into spaces of culture, gathering, and value