Most of the projects that are designed and made at Designed & Made, a cabinetry and woodworking shop in Arden Hills, are custom jobs for high-end homes around the country.
But when the team wants to show off an innovative technique or test a new process, they go rogue.
That’s the story behind a 20-foot-tall multimedia artwork hanging in the lobby of their production shop in Arden Hills. The main body of the work consists of two large slabs of fiberboard carved in a complex geometric pattern with a computer-guided router, then finished with mirror-like polished brass inlays and coated with a pearlescent paint that reflects different colors at different angles.
A detail from a large-scale artwork made by Arden Hills cabinetry shop Designed & Made is shown in March 2025. The work was produced using a large computer-guided router and a pearlescent finish used mainly in automotive contexts, said owner Brian Grabski. (Josh Hway / Dynamic Photowerks)
“We’re just showcasing things that are possible,” owner and woodworker Brian Grabski said. “A lot of people don’t know to ask for something because they don’t know it exists. That’s a big part of the reason we do these art pieces on the side; it’s a way for us to flex and show our capabilities.”
Grabski titled the work “Tanks in Tiananmen Square: A Study of Emergent Behavior,” the subtitle of which refers to unexpected results that emerge from combining disparate elements. In this case: modern computer-aided design using software like Rhinoceros 3D and Autodesk Fusion, industrial routering machines, traditional woodworking assembly techniques and coatings and resins pulled from other industries. The color-shifting paint used in the piece is an automotive-grade finish, Grabski said.
“The design process is mostly Brian ping-ponging off me what he wants,” said Duncan MacLeslie, the lead machinist and 3D designer. “I take his little napkin sketches and put them into the computer in 3D, and make it into a physical thing.”
Grabski and the team have been working on completing the project for several years, he said, partially because the shop is busy with client work but mostly because they’ve continued to build a portion, test something, find a problem, and start over to get it right. In an earlier iteration, for example, they were finding the color-shifting paint would pool in the carefully routered interior corners, making them round rather than acute. The solution: Hang the piece upside-down and spray it from below.
Designed & Made owner Brian Grabski holds two pieces of wood to demonstrate the effect of a particular finish on March 20, 2025, at the cabinetry company’s shop in Arden Hills. (Jared Kaufman / Pioneer Press)
“Tanks in Tiananmen Square” is certainly the most eye-catching experiment in the Designed & Made lobby but not the only one: A massive built-in bookshelf, a pool table in progress and even the drink coasters the staff use are, functionally, advertisements for the company’s techniques. The team is also working on a massive kinetic light installation to hang over the pool table once it’s complete.
“A lot of these things we play with, we end up taking those concepts and incorporating them into our millwork and cabinetry in these big, multimillion-dollar houses.” Grabski said. “Every project we do, ultimately, is a stepping stone to our next best work, because we’re taking everything we’ve learned and reapplying it and going hard again.”
In short: Pushing the envelope of what architects, designers and homeowners can expect, Grabski said. Or maybe a piece like “Tanks in Tiananmen Square” could end up in a modern art gallery or museum one day, he said.
“The envelope doesn’t close here, for sure,” added Antoine Scott, the lead finisher, responsible for coatings, paints and polishes. “We bring whatever people are looking for to life. That’s the challenge but also what’s fun here.”
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