Milan 2015: Chinese studio Neri&Hu has designed a wooden cabinet and seven objects to go inside – one to represent each of the seven deadly sins (+ slideshow).
The Cabinet of Curiosity for furniture brand Stellar Works is a tall wooden storage unit with glass doors on the front and back.
Metal mesh covers the sides and the cabinet sits on a metal trolley. Inside are seven objects made from walnut, brass and porcelain.
"The Cabinet of Curiosity is intended to hold objects that contain links to the many secrets of our personas that we wish to reveal, mask, or memorialise," said Neri&Hu.
"We imagine that these secrets are somehow, consciously or unconsciously, tied to the inner sins we all try to hide," the designers added. "Through time, inevitably, all hidden is revealed, and sins are redeemed by the light."
A brass hand-mirror with an elongated handle represents pride, while a wooden abacus featuring five beads in brass and the rest in blackened walnut symbolises greed.
Lust is expressed as a tall glass candle holder on a walnut base with a brass handle, and envy is displayed with a wooden and brass weight for hanging on a set of scales.
A small brass dagger with a similar handle to the mirror signifies wrath and sloth is portrayed with a hand-painted Arita porcelain sake drinking set consisting of bottles, cups and a diffuser.
Finally, gluttony is symbolised by a seven-piece porcelain tableware set, each piece embossed with an animal image corresponding to one of the deadly sins.
The cabinet was inspired by the carts used in a typical ceramic factory to wheel objects into the kiln for firing.
"The furnace represents the trials and tribulations we all encounter in life, from which we offer up sweat and tears, pain and pleasure, yet it is through the burning of these sins and secrets that we walk out white as snow," said Neri&Hu. "Secrets revealed. Or secrets concealed. That is up to us."
"In employing a Chinese designer (Neri & Hu) and a Japanese manufacturer (Arita), the Cabinet of Curiosity aims to explore the centuries-old relationship between Japanese and Chinese design and manufacturing, especially in porcelain," said a statement from Stellar Works.
The cabinet and products were presented at Spazio Rossana Orlandi during April's Salone del Mobile furniture fair in Milan.
As part of the exhibition, visitors were encouraged to write down their confessions in sealed envelopes and assign them to a particular sin in exchange for a cocktail specially created for each vice.