I. Story


Apple boxes are a staple of photography and film studios. Professionals use apple boxes on a daily basis to add height to a set, to prop up objects, to stand on or sit on, or to stack. It is from the simple, functional object that I got the idea to elevate the box into a piece of furniture. One can even see what appears to be proto-applebox in Jacque-Louis David’s "The Death of Marat" (1793). In the 1950s Le Corbusier made a fine furniture variant of the apple box. I wanted to take this adaptive shape and to create a hand-made, versatile, personally meaningful but customizable object that other people could use in their daily lives. It is made to be used as a stool, side table, seating surface, or a sculptural object. The prototype is solid oak with an opening on only one side which allows for portability, while the five other surfaces allow for maximum number of possible uses.

II. About

Ilan Rubin is a photographer and designer living in New York and working out of  his studio in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.  He is known in the photography world, among other things, for his collaborations with Knoll furniture where his unique graphic lighting and minimal style is epitomized. Ilan saw the apple box's versatility and developed this line as an homage to something that is both extremely simple and incredibly functional -  a chair, a stool, a ladder, a table in one portable object. Featured below is the first apple box Ilan purchased.

 

III. MAKING OF

Clint Downing of Downing frames is the maker, producer, and collaborator of the Apple Boxes. The Apple Boxes are made in his shop in Long Island City where the commitment to superior craftsmanship is paramount; giving great care by hand selecting the lumber, creating flawless mitered corners, splined joints, and completed painted interiors.