The design of this small glass display cabinet for tea wares and teas has received the 2008 Design Journal magazine’s ADEX Award’s third place of a Silver Award.

This item was designed in January 2005 and produced by the wood factory in China in March 2005. It was designed with a minimized approach for Shen’s clients who were tea drinkers. For years people had come to Shen’s Gallery asking for a simple display cabinet to store their nice tea wares and teas for daily purpose.

This smaller glass display cabinet is handcrafted with a dense soft wood from Southern China called "Lotus Wood". It was designed in mind with the smaller compact space where lighter color may enhance the living environment. It was produced in small quantity with the selected cuts of wood.

Lotus wood bears many grainy knobs and holes in the raw material and the holes are often big and need to be patched. It is difficult to have larger cuts of this wood without encountering many discolorations and holes in the wood.

Therefore, although wood selection is extremely careful, each piece will differ in its look because of this wood character, which offers the cabinet an additional one-of-a-kind appeal.

In trying to match the finish with the characteristic of this wood, this item is finished in a less visible matte lacquer finish over the very light blonde wood.

The concept of this design was developed over a period of time based on an available ornately carved piece with different color, different wood, different finish, and ultimately totally different look and feel. Over the course of time, this item was adjusted and re-designed to be a completely different piece.

22 5/8” W x 14 5/8” D x 55 1/8” H

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