Dresser by Marvin Drandell

Marvin Drandell is a Los Angeles-based designer and maker of bespoke furniture. Trained as a scientist, and long employed as a development engineer at a famous laboratory, Drandell treats each new furniture project as a technical exploration.

This one-off dresser was laboriously made of solid maple and hand-machined, aerospace-grade aluminum, with steel and brass components. Each drawer swings completely open, allowing easy access to stored clothing. When swung back into its closed position, the drawer is locked into place by a clever mechanism -- until it is deliberately opened again.

This piece is from a series of dressers that Drandell created in the 1990s. He set himself a challenge to design each new dresser with drawers that opened and closed in a completely different manner from the last.