design et al are delighted to announce that Aurum Home have been shortlisted for Bespoke Cabinetry Award within The International Design and Architecture Awards 2017.
Aurum Home present the Evil Eye Cabinet, a piece featuring brass pillar legs with a tongue-in-cheek evil eye sculpture handle fitted in marble and lapis lazuli. Standing at 68” in height, the contemporary cabinet features brass legs, MDF lacquered cupboard, brass evil eye handle with marble inlay. Each glass shelf has been carefully adorned with lights. The cabinet was designed as a fun addition to service the purpose of storage in the form of a bar or display cabinet.
The designers kept the shelving in glass for an uncluttered appearance, with mirror cladding on the inner walls, which looks spectacular when lit-up and lined with objects. The legs are also a borrowed architectural concept of pillars, where the front view is visually clean showing two straight legs but as one angles their placement, the depth of the legs are visible. Aurum Home decided to cast a brass evil eye sculpture for the handle and fitted it with Vietnamese white marble and lapis lazuli, attached to a single door to achieve the appearance of a lock. The paint finish resembles a sponge effect similar to metal patina in shades of grey. The designer wanted to adopt an industrial chic look to the overall piece, recreating it in softer materials for ease of interior placement.
The cabinet serves as a conversation starter, a statement piece to mask its greater purpose. Their clients in the Middle-East and subcontinents appeared to be uncomfortable with having sculptural representations of living things, however the evil eye or ‘nazar’ is a powerful superstition in these regions. The designers received an overwhelming response from their audience, especially those who appreciated furniture pieces that had a contemporary and playful aspect within interfering with their cultural values, on a larger scale the piece is enjoyed as a folk tale reference with pop-cultural appeal. The case good has ample shelving in glass for an uncluttered look, with in-built lighting. Its exterior served as a quirky design addition to any space, where the aesthetic does not interfere with the intended purpose of storage in style.
All of their pieces are primarily fabricated from start to finish by their in-house team of technicians. Each piece can be customised in terms of materials, colours, dimensions and even design adjustments. They operate with creative solutions in their production process to fill the void of a prevalent lack of infrastructure and mechanisation. To achieve the quality and finish universally and to be acknowledged as a luxury piece, their team works mostly by hand to match the results of a globally relevant design output.
Specialist artisan skills included; the marble inlay using a semi-precious stone, paint technique administered by hand sponging and brass casting based on a wood sculpture with lifelike chiselled details. All materials were sourced from the local market in Pakistan, where no one large store or supplier is used consistently. In fact, they have smaller workshops in the city where they operate out of. Aurum Home design team purchased the raw metal, marble or finishing materials which are polished/cut/manufactured/assembled in-house. The lapis lazuli was sourced from a wholesaler vendor in North Pakistan.