Tag Archives: sideboard

This Sideboard Has Lapis Lazuli and Green Onyx Hand-Set Into Marble

Posted on by

Black Marquina marble tends to command a room before anything else in it does. The material has a particular gravity, that deep, carbonized base cut through with white veining, which makes most furniture around it feel like an afterthought. Designer Himanshu Kumar Gupta leans into that authority completely with the Midnight Inlay Sideboard, then quietly subverts it the moment someone opens a door.

The exterior runs on strict formal logic. Vertical fluting covers the door panels from edge to edge, each ridge precisely cut into the stone so the surface ripples with shadow even under flat ambient light. On plain marble, this treatment would read as architectural severity, which is exactly the point. The fluting establishes a rhythm, almost like a grid, that makes what comes next feel genuinely disruptive.

Designer: Himanshu Gupta

Scattered across those ridged panels are rectangular inlays in Lapis Lazuli, Red Fire marble, Alikanta, and Green Onyx, appearing at irregular intervals and orientations like signals caught mid-transmission. Each inlay sits flush within the fluting, which means the stone was routed and fitted with zero tolerance for error. A slightly proud or recessed block would break the silhouette entirely. That constraint alone separates this from surface-applied decoration.

The interior is where the piece earns its sharpest contrast. Behind the cool, textured stone exterior is a cavity lined in red velvet over solid wood, a warm, almost theatrical shift in material register. Opening the doors feels less like accessing storage and more like discovering that a severe stone cabinet had a completely different personality waiting inside, the kind of detail that does not photograph well and cannot be fully appreciated without direct interaction.

Cylindrical handles in a warm copper-toned metallic finish sit vertically in the fluting, restrained enough to avoid competing with the inlays. The base is a solid slab, no tapered legs, no gap between cabinet and floor, keeping the profile ground-hugging and monolithic. The overall silhouette is low and horizontal, which helps it read as furniture rather than architecture, even with the stone’s commanding presence working against that reading.

Combining five different natural stones into a single fluted facade is a nontrivial production problem. Stone inlay of this precision typically requires hand-fitting each piece individually, since natural stone does not behave with the consistency of milled engineered material. The designer frames this as a contemporary take on traditional inlay craft, creating a beautiful tension between order and spontaneity, old and new.

The post This Sideboard Has Lapis Lazuli and Green Onyx Hand-Set Into Marble first appeared on Yanko Design.

This Oak Sideboard Has Doors You Can’t Stop Touching

Posted on by

You know that feeling when you run your fingers across something and the texture makes you stop in your tracks? That’s exactly the vibe British furniture maker Nick James is going for with his sideboard featuring sculpted doors. And honestly, it’s the kind of piece that makes you rethink what furniture can be.

At first glance, it looks like a solid oak sideboard. Clean lines, classic proportions, nothing too flashy. But then you get closer and realize those doors aren’t just doors. They’re carved with flowing, wave-like patterns that transform the flat surface into something that feels almost alive. The sculpting reveals the oak’s grain in ways you’d never see otherwise, creating shadows and depth that shift as you move around the piece.

Designer: Nick James

This isn’t Nick James’s first dance with texture. The British designer has built a reputation for bringing tactile interest to traditional furniture forms. His approach is about celebrating the material itself, letting the wood grain become the star of the show rather than hiding it under layers of paint or veneer. In a world where so much furniture feels mass-produced and anonymous, there’s something refreshing about a piece that proudly shows off its origins.

The sideboard itself is practical in all the ways you’d want. It measures a generous size, perfect for dining room storage or as a living room statement piece. Inside, you’ll find a height-adjustable shelf, so whether you’re storing wine bottles or board games, you can configure it to fit your life. The hardware is minimal, keeping the focus on those sculptural doors that really deserve center stage.

What makes this piece particularly interesting is how it straddles different design worlds. There’s a mid-century modern sensibility to the proportions and the floating quality of the case. But the textured doors feel almost Art Deco, with their geometric repetition and emphasis on craftsmanship. And then there’s an undeniably contemporary edge to the whole thing, because let’s face it, most traditional furniture makers aren’t carving wave patterns into cabinet doors.

The price point sits at £2,950, which puts it firmly in the investment furniture category. But here’s the thing about pieces like this: they’re made to order from solid oak, hand-finished, and designed to last decades. In an era when we’re all supposed to be buying less but buying better, a sideboard like this makes the case for choosing quality over quantity. Plus, it’s the kind of furniture that only gets better with age as the oak develops its patina and character.

Some design purists might argue about the use of CNC technology to create the repetitive carved pattern. There was even a comment on Core77 suggesting that precision CNC texturing lacks soul. But I’d push back on that. The technology is just a tool, like a chisel or a lathe. What matters is the design vision behind it and the quality of execution. James uses the precision to reveal something beautiful about the material itself, not to disguise it as something it’s not.

The sideboard also speaks to a broader trend we’re seeing in contemporary design: texture is having a major moment. Whether it’s fluted glass, ribbed wood, scalloped tiles, or carved surfaces, designers are moving away from the ultra-minimalist smooth finishes that dominated the 2010s. People want furniture that invites touch, that creates visual interest through shadow and form, that makes you want to get up close and really look.

What I love most about this piece is that it doesn’t shout for attention. It’s not trying to be the loudest thing in the room. Instead, it rewards the people who take time to notice the details. The way the light catches the carved surface. How the grain pattern emerges from the sculpting. The contrast between the textured doors and the smooth frame. These are the kinds of subtle pleasures that make living with good design so satisfying.

The post This Oak Sideboard Has Doors You Can’t Stop Touching first appeared on Yanko Design.