Furry cabinet

At the Brooklyn Museum today, I was taken by this cabinet, “Lovebird Agave Cabinet,” designed by Fernando Laposse in 2021 in Mexico City.

This cabinet is fascinating because it both looks utterly unlike any cabinet I’ve ever seen, and also is immediately recognizable as a cabinet through its affordance of dual round, centered doorhandles. The affordance defines the object, even if the rest is doing its best to lack any resemblance to tradition. It’s radical both in its style—the concept of the fur, the gradated color—and materials—eschewing petroleum-based fur for natural fibers grown locally by farmers the artist mentions on Instagram. The legs help indicate cabinetry as well, though even without them the object would remain identifiable.

The fur insulates, which could indicate the cabinet is specifically a refrigerator/cooler of some sort, and leaves you wondering if the fur is the only insulation? The fur is rather impractical, being nearly impossible to clean, but the vibe is so stunning I would love to have this in my living room.

Removing the affordance—hiding those doorhandles, possibly removing the legs—frees the object of any purpose, and it could be anything. A coffin. A hot tub. Just a fluffy monster. (Add some eyes? Defacing the doorhandles with eyeballs would fully transform the object.) And compared to traditional coffins treated with toxic chemicals of all kinds, decaying in an agave and birch box is more environmentally friendly.

Unfortunately the cabinet is only viewable at this angle and distance, and permanently closed in the exhibition, but the online gallery reveals its inside design, with beautiful birch wood and matching fur inside:

These affordances are even more obvious, with a traditional form and function of wooden drawers with handles and clear gaps for your hands to reach or your stuff to peak out. The shelves along the top and bottom, though non-traditionally shaped have more than half their available volume rendered unusable by aesthetic fur. I love it.