There’s nowhere to hide with glass showcases. And that’s entirely the point. Whatever it is you want to put on display, you want the clearest possible view.
You also want everything – the cabinet included – to look great. That, again, is the point. Whether it’s a retail display or an art or museum exhibit or a trophy cabinet in your home, the very fact that you are putting things on show behind glass means you want to draw the eye. You want to create a certain visual appeal.
That means the cabinet itself has to pull its weight. A great-looking display starts with a great-looking case. Easy enough, you might think. After all, glass is glass.
But it’s with the different components used to put the glass panels together – hinges, brackets, locks – that things can become tricky for designers. With locks and hinges in particular, most manufacturers have traditionally focused on making one or the other. That makes it hard to match styles.