The Deco Dragon Dresser

Like the vast majority of furniture pieces, this dresser is an amalgam of historical influences. It has the lines of the Art Deco period but some details that suggest more of an Art Nouveau style . While trying to pin down which direction I would take for its reimagined state, I was surprised to find a yellowed piece of paper with Japanese characters hidden in one of the drawers. Translating the script proved to be less than straight-forward. Even friends who read and spoke Japanese couldn’t quite make it out. The plot thickened!

Fortunately I was able to get in contact with the brainiac who created a piece of software that could read and translate this old fashioned script. The paper turned out to be a copy of a haiku written by Emperor Showa (Hirohito) after the close of the second world war. The poem, roughly translated:

In a cold wind,

Looking at the moon on a frosty night,

Praying for the world,

Smell of plum trees through the room.

I chose a dragon to paint on the dresser because Japanese emperors are thought to be descendents of dragons. Inside the lid at the top, compartments for accessories are now lined in Japanese shoji paper. Each drawer is lined with a different Japanese paper print.

Let’s make this story have a happy ending. Simply purchase the piece and give it a new home today!

30”w x 18”d x 41.5”h

Navy, blue, gray and silver paint on solid wood.