With the aim of integrating secret compartments into the desk, part of my design process involved researching various types of wooden puzzles, hidden spaces, and concealed mechanisms.
In addition to the elaborate and extraordinarily complex mechanical wonders created by Abraham Roentgen (examples including the Berlin Secretary Cabinet and Roll-top desk), I found myself inspired by the deceptively simple-looking Japanese puzzle boxes, known as himitsu-bak.
Instead of complicated mechanical features such as pulleys, springs, and levers, these wooden boxes were ingeniously constructed to requires sequences of consecutive movements or wood panels and grooves to unlock the hidden spaces within.
The pictures below are of a puzzle box my lovely wife gifted me (a box which now lives within its own compartment of the desk).
HISTORY - JAPANESE PUZZLE BOXES (HIMITSU-BAK)
The history of the Japanese puzzle boxes can be traced to Hakone, Japan, originating as small trinket boxes that eventually grew in complexity and size and taking on the name of sikake-bako, or tei-bako (which stands for trick box, or clever box).
The first Japanese Secret Puzzle Boxes were designed in the late Edo period by Jinbei Ishikawa (1790-1850). Himitsu-bako design evolved into the current form during the Meiji Period in the late 1800s, with three artisans (Takajiro Ohkawa, Tatsunosuke Okiyama and Mr. Kikukawa) recognized as the creators of the modern puzzle box (combining the plain box design with a mosaic-style type of wood artistry).
Japanese puzzles boxes can be described both by their level of difficulty (i.e., the number of required moves, generally ranging from 4 to 66 moves with exceptional examples as high as 122) and size (e.g., using a ‘sun’ system as a traditional Japanese unit of measure to denote length).
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DESK INSPIRATIONS:
In designing and building our desk, I was inspired to both move towards (+) and away (-) from the design and aspects of Japanese puzzle boxes.
ASPECTS:
(+) The desk is in a sense a series of wooden boxes, made by joining different woods, housed within in other (drawers, trays, boxes, and the entire desk itself).
(+) Like the puzzle boxes, the desk and its spaces act to protect and conceal their contents.
(+/-) While the desk uses a combination of techniques to secure certain hidden compartments – from the use of contrasting wood patterns as camouflage and the multiple sequential movements (akin to the puzzle boxes), other drawers are secured using brass locks (requiring keys in lieu of cleverness).
(+) Similar to the Japanese puzzle boxes use of local woods (the Hakone Mountains are known for their variety of trees), we purposely used local wood sources and types (maple, cherry, and walnut).
(+) In designing the desk, I maintained a preference for straight, clean, simpler lines to best highlight contrasting the natural wood colors and grains (similar to the puzzle box’s marquetry-style approach).
(-) While the elegance of Japanese puzzle boxes relies on wood-only construction, our desk includes metal hardware (e.g., steel slides, brass handles, locks, hinges, and fasteners).
While considerably less portable than a puzzle box, I hope this desk – with its creativity, quality, and craftsmanship – will continue to delight and inspire generations (and descendants) to come.
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