This stacked-case, walnut jewelry box was built as a gift for my wife’s niece in celebration of the latter’s high school graduation.

It was inspired by the stacked-stone Iniksuk monuments erected as geographical and spiritual guideposts by the native peoples of Alaska and northwest Canada. No stone in the Iniksuk matches any other, yet the individual pieces come together to form a meaningful whole. One notes, for example, that in this box the shapes and joinery of the bottom and top cases are not identical, yet the parts come together as one.

This jewelry box is built of walnut from a single plank. The cases are hand dovetailed. Because the stock is gnarly and thick, and because the dovetails are large, the cases are also pinned with hidden screws at each corner.

The slant-edged top case fits onto brass pins fixed into two edges of the lower case. The bookmatched top and all handles are dyed darker than the box itself. The finish is hand rubbed oil and the trays, cases and case bottoms are  lined with sage-green suede-cloth.

Launch Gallery