After fortuitously meeting and becoming friends with @phoxlights (and discovering he owned a laser cutter) I became inspired by the idea of designing and creating small modular boxes that could stack, add a decorative element to any space or table, and hold small trinkets. I worked with a master cabinetmaker for a year and decided to try my hand at small pieces that can be cut by laser and hammered together with a small mallet. I have never designed something for a laser cutter before and did some research first.

My first design was for a small square box (start small and learn quickly). I designed them in Adobe Illustrator because of its use of vectors and my comfort level. I knew my final design would more than likely be made out of 1/8" sheet goods. Plywood at first but eventually I want to make them out of nicer hardwoods. The small finger joints on the side fit together tightly and get hammered together after they are initially set.

My second design was for a square box with an interesting profile cut in the center so it can be opened and closed. Thinking about the design in three dimensions I new I wanted to make something that the top wouldn't just slide off of when it was closed. The profile helps hold the top to the bottom until it is lifted straight up.

Then I came up with many different cabinet drawer options once I had the fundamentals down. The above image shows the many different designs I came up with before going to his shop and testing the them out. You can see after my first couple of designs I started adding a profile to the top and the bottom so the boxes could be stacked on top of each other without becoming dislodged. I tested a few different pattern and drawer handle options that all work fairly the same. The drawers in early designs had an issue where both sides would not pull out evenly and it resulted in the drawer becoming stuck so I had to test out a internal rail system to keep them on track. The first few had pieces too small and fragile to hammer but I eventually found a system that worked and felt cohesive with the design.

I added my @cosmicnothingsart logo to the bottom and used colors to separate the 3 different sections the laser cutter needs to focus on. (1st Black-Engraving, 2nd Blue-Internal Cuts, 3rd Red-External Cuts) This is done so that no pieces get moved or fall before the laser cutter has time to clear all the cuts inside them. 

This box is double the height of the original design but has the same profile on the top and bottom so it can go in with a stack of smaller ones. 

Below is the first prototype I made and was happy with. I gifted it to my partner Bailey as an anniversary gift. For the final product I plan on making them out of hardwood and leaving the constructed pieces in a bin of danish oil so that it adds a nice finish and swells the wood to seal any gaps in the joints.

I love the detail the finger joints add to the sides and front. I plan on selling them at a craft market here in Austin, Tx. Let me know on IG if you are interested in getting some and I'd be more than happy to accommodate. 

Thanks for checking this out.