Synopsis: Hank Gilpin’s stepped cabinet is a blend of impeccable joinery, humble woods, hand shaping, and classical proportions. At approximately 20 years old, it recently returned to Hank’s shop for a facelift.

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Built to stand against a staircase in a mudroom in Massachusetts and hold boots and gloves and scarves, Hank Gilpin’s red oak stepped cabinet bears his unmistakable imprint: a blend of practicality and playfulness, impeccable joinery, humble woods, hand shaping, and classical proportions. Over the last half century, some of the best American furniture has been made in his shop in a former church on Wilbur Road in Lincoln, R.I. Gilpin has always worked with assistants and apprentices (46 in all, the shortest-tenured lasting six weeks, the longest 14 years) and under his mentorship the shop has produced many remarkable makers. This piece was made in 2004 when Sylven Medyesy was in the midst of her 10 years in the shop; when the piece returned to the shop late last year, it was disassembled, demudded, and refinished by Matt Giossi (14 years) and Ron Kuhn (11), who left Gilpin’s just last month to launch their own shop full time. Gilpin has no plan to stop designing, but thinks Matt and Ron may be the last two of the 46 benchmates who have been with him every step of the way.

—Jonathan Binzen

From Fine Woodworking #304

	MotC: Carl Swensson – The Experimental Woodworker Carl Swensson’s woodworking skills go very, very deep. But they go wide as well.
	A love of the craft, exposed This modern take on 18th-century French semainier form maintains simplicity while also calling back to its original Rococo design.
	Cabinets: Our favorite articles A roundup of our top articles from Matt Kenney, Clark Kellogg, Garrett Hack, Michael Peckovich, and others on wall cabinets, cabinets on a stand, and more

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