JAPANESE GIFT BOX

It’s a tradition among Japanese woodworkers to build a box for their prized hand tools to keep them secure and close at hand. Although these utilitarian boxes tend toward very basic joinery, many feature a simple, but ingenious wedge-locking mechanism to secure the lid. Intrigued by this austere yet functional design, I set out to construct a scaled-down, modified version of these traditional boxes to house any small collection of keepsakes.

For my gift box, I added tapered legs and a pagoda-style handle on the lid to lend visual interest. I also