When I was asked to design a box for whelps that could be easily broken down and stored, I was excited at the idea of creating something simple and compelling--yet a box that also felt good in the hand and was a pleasure to use like a well-crafted children's toy. We had just seen a play in Ashland, Oregon, and I recall how nice it was to have something to develop the design of in my head during the long drive home.

I became excited about using large dovetail joints to lock the sides and bottom together, which worked well. So many things we build are based on boxes, and it was just nice to make one with such intention. The complete design fit on a single piece of letter-size paper, and while I had to use four fasteners on each side instead of two, it worked beautifully--these fasteners are threaded into brass inserts for easy knockdown and storage of the flattened box.