Shrine
Category: Interior
Competitions: Home Competition 2026
A batch production project as part of my Furniture Making BA (hons), the brief was to design an object for garden use that related to West Dean College using materials sourced from the grounds of the college estate. I opted for oak which had been felled in managed woodlands owned by the college, designated specifically for students to make furniture or other objects as part of their courses. I chose to design a dual purpose birdfeeder/plantholder, as I felt an object which allowed an interaction with nature would closely align with the ethos of the college, renowned for it's gardens and arboretum. Using pergolas as inspiration I developed an interlocking friction fit design which does not require glue or fixings, wood is the only material used. Another aspect of the batch production assessment was that production should be streamlined with as little material wastage as possible. All components are the same thickness and straight, with only 3 separate blank component sizes needed to produce a shrine. This ensures as much of the timber is used as possible, as curved designs cut from timber have the most wastage, and each board only needs thicknessing to one size to produce all the pieces. Components are created from blanks using a router sled jig, which could potentially be scaled up and optimized for use with a CNC gantry. I developed a router sled system, where up to 14 of the beam components or 8 post components could be created at a time. After making a run of shrines in iroko and gifting a few away, the feedback I received was that people chose to display them on their desks instead of putting them outside. With this in mind the shrine is now primarily focused as a piece of homeware, providing a decorative stand for potted plants or a dish for keys and jewellery.
