Janis Straupe, one of the most respected professionals in Latvia, has designed and made wooden design products for more than 30 years. His Beetle cabinet has gathered a lot of attention. The alder cabinet looks as though it were carved from a solid block.

Fully modeled inside and out, it houses a warren of hidden drawers and storage compartments. Straupe has laminated strips of wood together to form a convincing whole - as though the piece was carved from a solid block.

The alder cabinet is modeled from real life beetles. Working methodically, Straupe developed life-sized sketches of the cabinet front, then modeled them in clay.

His work is described by critics as "practically applicable, technically complex, with clean straight lines, geometrically accurate and sharp, without any poetism and ruffles. He plays with form where functionality plays the main role dressed in very exclusive design. Janis Straupe is known for his untraditional point of view, trying to show multilaterism of wood combining functionality and decoration."

Straupe is widely known in Latvia, but most coverage of his work we have seen is in Russian. He has placed a digital file for the Bettle cabinet at a website with an RU extension - which may be offputting to some web travelers. We dropped a space in the url so you can be intentional about visiting it: http:// 3ddd.ru/3dmodels/show/shkaf_zhuk

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As another critic puts it: "Each of his work has some special detail, a secret that distinguishes it from simple everyday objects. In every millimeter you can see and feel designer's touch of hand. Reunifying the ancient job skills with modern technology, experienced masters  make new samples only in one or few copies, giving the uniqueness that admirers of  excellent and exclusive design objects will be able to appreciate."