This piece was definitely designed with space limitations in mind. Cubox from Elemento Diseno is a horisontal string of boxes that can form several different configurations. The end cabinets can be flipped up, and the whole piece can be transformed into two vertical stacks of two, cutting the required floor area in half. The color scheme is a bit boring (black, white and two gray shades in between), but it makes Cubox even more universal.
Source: Dornob
This cool modular wine rack, called Woo Wine, was initially created by the Warsaw-based designer Sandra Laskowska as a birthday gift for a wine-lover friend. Built from individual wooden or plexiglas hoops, these racks can take as much or as little space as you wish. They can take different shapes too. The hoops can be painted in different colors, which makes them even more customizable. And if you simply run out of bottles to hive (in an infinite Universe anything can happen), the Woo Wine maze can be taken apart and stored flat. Brilliant!
Here is an example of taking a good idea and making it even better. Initially the Window table, created by Eero Koivisto for Offecct, had an inserted colored glass feature that served as a stylish way to indicate the storage area. Now Koivisto went further and replaced the glass with an insertion for flowers and plants. The result is refreshing and chic. The timing is right too. Spring is coming, so it might be a good idea to give those planters another optimistic try…
No matter what kind of opinions you hold on the subject, your cat will always believe that climbing on top of bookcases is awesome. And majestically eyeing the premises from the top shelf is even awesomer. You can enter a painful (and most likely futile) process of imposing restrictions on the cat, or you can embrase the inevitable and give him/her this brilliant thing. Created by belgian designer Corentin Dombrecht, the Cat Library bookcase is made in a shape of a staircase with a built-in sitting basket at its top. The piece is modular, which allows to fit it in any space. According to Designboom, the shelf is intentionally unpainted and is not oiled, so that the surface is not too slippery for cat paws. So, this may be furniture to you, to your cat it is just another toy. But isn’t this true for everything else in your home?
This piece is a combination of raw function and illusion, created by the Lisbon-based designer Fernando Brízio for Droog. From a certain angle it looks like a real side table with an open drawer, but, as the product name suggests, What You See Is Not. In reality only the drawer is three-dimensional, the rest of the piece is a sticker on a wall. Here is how Brizio describes this concept: ‘The illusion in this piece creates a situation where you observe the object’s form and deform, depending on your position in space. I am interested in this type of interaction between the object and the viewer—what you see is a result of who you are, how you think and how you are mentally and physically constituted.’ The What You See Is Not side table also allows to save on materials. So, it only tricks the eye, not the environment…
This project has won the Interior Innovation Award during Imm Cologne 2011, which is not the least bit surprising. German designer Florian Gross has created a universally likable piece, called Konnex, that has all attributes we want to see in a bookcase. It is light, modular, stackable, easy to put together, fully customizable in any room, big or small. And because the bookcase can be taken apart and stored in a form of nested modules, it is easy to ship as well. The combinations and uses of the Konnex bookcase are endless, it can even be paired with other furniture pieces, put under your desk, for example. Sold in sets of 3, the slot-in units can be stacked, added to, arranged and rearranged to the extent of your budget and imagination.
There is no reason whatsoever for bringing a boring bookcase into your home. Especially when pieces like this one exist. Designed by Kittichai Reawsanguanwong, the Chinese Checkered Bookshelf was made to draw attention to itself. According to Yanko Design, the bookshelf joints are fitted with magnets to hold the chess pieces. Although not actually playable, the pieces can be rearranged to add visual interest and variety. They can also hold notes and small items. The bookcase was displayed during the ‘Imprints: Designing for Memories’ exhibition at the National Museum of Singapore.
A spacious and functional workspace in the morning, a social hot-spot in the afternoon, and a dining table at night – these are the roles this piece of furniture can play. A truly multifunctional table, called Doppelleben, is the recent creation of the Ahhaproject design studio. The idea is ingenious in its simplicity. The tabletop consists of two layers. If you need to use the lower layer, you can slide two lightweight panels down the sides. And when the work is done (or is safe to be interrupted), the panels come up creating a surface for dining and entertaining. This working/dining combo is merely a suggestion, of course. You can use the lower layer tabletop as a bookshelf, a utensil storage, a display for your collectables, or in any way you see fit.
Combining sitting and book storage is a popular game these days, and here is another impressive effort in this direction. The Ransa sofa, designed by Younes Duret studio, consists of a sit elevated above the book shelves. The piece not only has the obvious space-saving capabilities, but also provides a pleasing book display. Ransa is big enough for an average person to lie down, which makes it a proper couch, designed for an avid bookworm. The piece only exists as a concept, but when put into production, it will surely find many fans.
One great man once said that it is the useless things that make life worth living. This inspired design object does not add a lot of functional goodness to the interior, but I want it anyway. Traffic Jam coat hanger, created by serbian designer Vukašin Vukobratović was one of 11 winning projects of the 2011 ‘Young Balkan Designers’ competition. And you can clearly see why. The beauty and humor of this thing are irresistible. To be fair, the signage is interchangeable and can provide an actual direction to human masses in schools, hotels, offices and other public places. And for us, shoebox dwelling creatures, it can become a much needed eye candy.
Source: Designboom
