I recently retired after 25 years in my second career as a wood product manufacturer (the first was in engineering). The product was modular audio video furniture with emphasis on storage for LPs, CDs and tape recordings. My stackable record rack is still popular among LP collectors.

The premise for the business was that people collect recorded music and need storage that can expand as their collection grows – hence modular stackable furniture. Of course now with digital recording technology, all you need is an iPod or a large hard drive to hold your music -- so it was a good time to retire.

The basic design philosophy I have been following, can be described as follows:

Form follows function
Make it simple and light
Use sustainable wood species
Incorporate proven joint designs
Straight lines and square corners
Minimize material use
Use top quality hardware

Per Madsen   permads@comcast.net