Dezeen Magazine

Photograph of cabinet top with drinks being made on top

Alter Interiors designs cabinet that "gives cannabis its proper place"

A pull-out rolling tray and a bong shelf were built into San Francisco studio Alter Interiors' High Bar, a cabinet that celebrates the ritual of using marijuana.

Alter Interiors founders Jenny Magdol and Steffie Oehm designed High Bar to have the convenience of a traditional household bar cabinet with added functionalities specific to cannabis smokers.

"Humans have always found occasion for and made a spectacle of their elixirs," said Alter Interiors. "And we have always designed spaces and furnishings to ritualise those elixirs."

Photograph of cabinet with open cupboard and cannabis plant beside it
High Bar is designed to hold alcohol, cannabis and related accessories

The studio's design references traditional liquor cabinets, which have been used to both conceal and display alcohol for centuries.

"Think 'wine cellar' or a 15th century 'cellarette', a wooden cabinet designed to secure whiskey and wine," the studio said.

Photograph of rolling tray pulled out
It has multiple shelves, drawers and cupboards

The studio noticed that similar reverence has not been paid to the storage of cannabis over the years, despite its similarly ritualistic uses.

"What do we do with our cannabis? Hide our bud in the back of the freezer? Obscure our edibles in an old box thrown into the junk drawer? Stick our stinky bongs behind the couch? No longer!" said the studio.

The High Bar cabinet has a self-contained tall form designed with the storage and preparation of cannabis in mind.

Its shelves and drawers have compartments designed to house paraphernalia associated with rolling joints and using bongs, including a pull-out rolling tray, undulating inserts to hold pipes and a shelf with unobstructed space above it specially designed to fit tall bongs.

Photograph of drawer containing charging ports
The design features stone, wood and tile

High Bar also features adjustable shelves, a tiled backsplash, a stone counter top, a tall cupboard to fit bottles and coolers and a drawer with charging ports for electronic smoking devices.

The ceramic tiles, ash timber and quartzite stone counter are all offcuts and surplus backup material from a kitchen remodelling project completed by Alter Interiors.

"[High Bar] represents how repurposing these small quantities can create something beautiful," the designers told Dezeen.

Photograph of drawer containing glass vials
Drawer inserts allow orderly storage

"It's time, and legal in half the states, to show reverence for cannabis the way that our ancestors did in ancient civilisations," the designers continued. "We have created a 21st century version of the cellarette which finally gives cannabis its proper place."

As well as designing furniture, Alter Interiors also creates residential interior schemes with a focus on kitchens and living spaces.

Other products published on Dezeen that facilitate the use of marijuana include a luxury cannabis dispensary clad in industrial grating panels in Toronto by StudioAC and glass pipes designed to make the path of smoke visible to users by Ninon Choplin.

The photography is by Haley Heramb.

More images

Photograph of cabinet top with drinks being made on top
Photograph of cabinet with open cupboard and cannabis plant beside it
Photograph of drawer containing compartments with jars
Photograph of drawer containing glass pipe