Solid Walnut · Three Bell Seats · Turned Feet
Yidaki
• On the bench
The Commission
Music Meets Furniture
Ali and Eduardo own three decorated didgeridoos, and they deserve better than leaning in a corner. The brief: a simple walnut base that stands all three upright, so they read as a collection instead of clutter.
The room already has good company. The slatted credenza ALISO built for them, The Nook, lives a few feet away, next to their own pod-legged coffee table. The stand has to belong to that room: same walnut warmth, same soft geometry.
The intersection of music and furniture is exactly my kind of project.
Why “Yidaki.” Didgeridoo is a name settlers gave the instrument. The Yolŋu people of northeast Arnhem Land, in northern Australia, call it the yidaki. It’s one of the oldest wind instruments still played: a eucalyptus limb hollowed by termites, played with circular breathing into a continuous drone.
The instruments, and the room they live in.
The Design
A Quiet Plinth
The instruments are the objects. The base should almost disappear. It’s one slab of solid walnut, 1¾ inches thick, cut into a soft bean shape that echoes the curves of the coffee table beside it.
Three bell seats are bored into the slab in a gentle arc, felt-lined so the painted instruments never touch bare wood. Four turned walnut feet lift it just off the floor, enough to throw a shadow and make it read as furniture rather than a board.
The Prototype
Test Fit in Softwood
Before touching walnut, the shape gets cut once in cheap softwood from the same template the router will follow. The mockup does the job a render can’t: it proves the bells actually drop into their seats, and that the footprint fits the corner where the instruments live.
Status
On the Bench
The design is locked and the prototype fits. Next: walnut.
- Design (Fusion 360 model + renders)
- Softwood prototype, fit check
- → Walnut base glue-up & milling
- Template-routed curved profile
- Bore and line the three bell seats
- Turn the feet and pegs
- Hand-rubbed finish, matched to the room
- Delivery
Specifications
The Details
