Shelving is as unavoidable as human need for collecting things. Ordinary shelving, however, is possible to avoid. Consider this piece from Opulent Items and see for yourself. Justly called Contemporary Flexi Shelving, this modular collection can fit any space. The units are sold separately and can be compiled into various configurations. The choice of two sizes allows for an exciting visual variety. Each circle comes with a level base, that stabilizes the items displayed. The piece can be used as a shelving unit, a room divider, or both.
Since we are on the subject of letters, here is another typographical treat for you, delivered all the way from Helsinki. This funky bookcase is called AAKKOSET, and is suitable for children of all ages. Created by the young Uganda born designer Lincoln Kayiwa, this piece not only makes a strong visual statement, it also provides a versatile storage for your books, CDs, magazines at cetra. Because the letter openings have different shapes, they make for an interesting and dynamic shelving. The letter-free space in the middle can be used as a bulletin board. Neat freaks, who dislike open storage, can even leave the bookcase empty and use it as a room divider. Made from durable fiberboard, AAKKOSET comes in a variety of colors.
A single strip of curved plywood was all that was needed to make this home office. Designed to fit even the smallest of spaces, this workstation by MisoSoup studio, incorporates a working surface and a shelving unit in one unusual layout. By wrapping shelves around the desk, designers not only saved some inches, but also made the unit more enclosed and secluded. The bamboo laminated plywood is flexible and light, which makes it a perfect material for the job. Bamboo is also a rapidly renewable material. So, what we see here is an environmentally sustainable design. Not just an eye candy.
So, Marc Haldermann of Dear Bird Design Products heard we liked shelves. And guess what, he put shelves inside the shelves… This neat arrangement is called Dado and represents the idea of storage taken down to its essentials. Various inserts, added to the bigger boxes, are interchangeable. They help us to divide (and conquer) our clutter while adding a rather pleasing color variety to a shelving unit.
Source: Yanko Design
Collecting things is one of the inherent human conditions, that’s why storage disguise has always been a form of martial art for designers. Here is an impressive effort from a Netherlander Sophie Mensen, who decided to build storage into a column. At first glance it may look as a decorative feature or an element of structural support. But in fact the upper part of the column is a wooden cabinet suspended from the ceiling, while the lower part is a marble stand that can serve as a step stool or an additional sitting. ‘I have chosen to work with a shape that gets absorbed by the space; the column, a constructive element of the house. A column is also a monument to impress, to remember important events that may not be forgotten. The column as a monument and the column as a constructive element are like the equivalent of my Column, but in the size and scale that fits to our interior,’ – says Sophie Mensen. Each piece is custom built to fit a specific space and disguise storage perfectly in plain site.
Tensor Voting is the name of this clever thing from Swiss designer Guilio Parini. It is a wall sculpture that serves as a customizable storage system. It arrives to you as a pile of rods and fasteners; you decide on a shape and build a skeletal system of your choice. Tensor Voting allows to play with different geometric configurations, so you can really let your artistic flag fly. As a shelving unit this model can withstand a reasonable number of books and small items.
