Mic Ritter, ‘Young Designer of the Year’ at the ‘Powerhouse Museum’s Young Blood Designer Exhibition (2010)’, is now an award winning furniture designer and maker. Mic’s latest designs continue to showcase his talents.

I have a love for old trunks, which I have featured the ones in my home on here before, but nothing really beats this amazing creation by Mic. It’s by far my favourite piece of all.

It’s called Chest of Drawers, personally handcrafted with a combination of custom built trunks made from scratch (the top three in image) and re-fashioned vintage trunks (the bottom two). The top three trunks have been covered in fabric and re-used leather (ripped out from an old couch) to replicate the look of old luggage.

All five trunks have a timber frame constructed of Tasmanian oak. The construction of the drawers for the false fronts has been created using traditional hand cut dovetail joints with Australian cedar. Kourie pine was used for the rest of the drawer assembly. The top right case has a compartment set out as a jewellery box crafted from Australian Cedar. Talk about an all Australian product, constructed by an Australian for Australians. Strong, sturdy and a real stand-out piece in any home. It would be perfect in mine!

Based on the Central Coast, Mic says “The idea for the piece was conceived when I was working with antiques. At the time I was repairing an old chest of drawers and noticed that one of the drawers had the same dimensions as a vintage suite case. The concept of using different styles of cases to create a chest of drawers followed on from there. The five individual cases have been fixed together and sit on a timber base styled with cabriole legs and finished with a french polish.”

What a clever guy!

For further information, to view Mic’s other work and for interviews please email him on: mail@micritter.com OR you can see it in person at Original Finish, in Newtown – www.originalfinish.com.au