Heavenly Victory

This marquetry cabinet by furniture maker John Cederquist attests to the continuing vitality of the American studio craft tradition in the twenty-first century. By giving precedence to visual imagery and pictorial flatness over three-dimensional form, Cederquist challenges the modernist dictum of “form follows function.” Drawing on the art of origami and, in the case of this kosode (a kind of basic Japanese robe) cabinet, Cederquist recalls traditional folding practices in which three-dimensional forms emerge from flat materials. He plays a game between actual and illusory surface, where graphic clues conceal the true use and function of his furniture. Only by interacting with the cabinet and breaking the plane of illusion does one discover the drawers and compartments concealed within the piece.