While we usually focus on maker projects that use electronics, we couldn’t skip over this custom wooden case made for the Apple Mac Mini.

Created by architecture student Henri Lacoste, this case is made out of oak and was intended as a Christmas present for his girlfriend. While it’s a bit late to make your own for a festive gift, there is now a full Instructables guide you can follow to replicate it.

It calls for a CNC machine to cut the main pieces of the case, a hardwood of your choice, some felt, hinges and a lock. if you put everything together as well as Lacoste did it, you end up with this beauty:

Now we’ve obviously not gone into detail here, working with wood always requires a lot of finishing and elbow grease, so make sure you read the guide in detail before hitting the lumber yard.

Because the Mac Mini doesn’t have one, we imagine this project could be expanded with space for a small screen. We’re not suggesting turning it into a makeshift laptop, but getting all the components into a single small case (we notice the keyboard is missing too) and this could be a nice launch pad for others to make cases for really small LAN PCs.