This 22 m2 Barcelona apartment used to be a service room, where the water tanks were stored. But that was before Christian Schallert, its present owner, and architect Barbara Appolloni took on the project. Now it is a fully functional pad, smart, versatile and very stylish. Complete with the little terrace – the space can be transformed into several rooms – bedroom, kitchen, dining room, office. All thanks to clever storing solutions, hidden in walls. Christian calls it ‘an active apartment’ and claims that these daily space-transforming ‘exercises’ keep him in shape. Another hidden bonus of living small…
Here is another noteworthy Kickstarter project. Gypsy Modular is a customizable furniture line that folds flat and requires no screws or tools for its assembly. The product was inspired by lego, it allows you to create any item by isung the same set of building blocks. The only limit is your imagination (and space, of course). While initially envisioned as a solution for students, the furniture may fit into an adult interior as well. The kits come in a variety of colors you can mix and match. Clever stuff!
Designer Christy Oates created this amazing line of fold-out interior pieces, that are attached to the wall. In its folded state each item resembles contemporary art – a perfect disguise. In two simple motions it becomes furniture. Imaginative and very useful for those who live in tiny spaces…
The truth about books is that they are rarely stay neatly displayed on the shelf. Rather they pile up right around the reading spot. So, if you read on your sofa – why not store your books there as well? This is the idea behind the Calypso Chair from Brandon Allen. The piece is generously equipped with storage spaces and transforming parts. You can slide your books and magazines under the seat, you can pull out the shelves for your cuppa, you can flip the shelves and use them for your laptop or writing pad, you can rotate the sitting parts, or you can remove the sitting altogether and transform the sofa into a coffe table. With all these options the Calypso Chair might be the only piece of furniture your living room will ever need.
It is often said that an object isn’t generous enough, if it only offers one function. This chair from French designer Inga Sempe is an example of a generous object indeed. The Step Ladder Chair, as the name suggests, is a chair that doubles as a ladder. The rings at the bottom become steps, and the backrest is pulled up for better balance. Elegant and functional, the piece is perfect for small spaces, where storage is organized vertically. The retractable wheels on the bottom allow the Step Ladder Chair to glide everywhere with ease.
HT Materialicious
Elements is the name if the modular DIY shelving system from the Parisian studio NOCC. The beauty of this concept is in its simplicity. These aluminium sheets are lazer-cut to be folded and assembled into a variety of shapes. In its disassembled state the Elements shelving takes very little space, which is not only comfortable for the user, but also makes for environmentally conscious manufacturing process and packaging. The product is currently displayed at the Nouvelle Vague exhibition, held at the Centre Culturel Français in Milan.
Among many delights of the Milan Design Week 2011 – Pinha lamp from Raw Edges is definitely the one worth noticing. The idea of the lamp is ingenious – you can pin your own shades to the cork base! The base itself is constructed of two halves that can fit over various hanging lights. The three-level tiered structure gives us creative freedom to mix and match shade components and allows for control over the direction and range of light. Choosing cork as a material was also a brilliant ecological move – it is sustainably sourced. And thanks to the low thermal and electrical conductivity of cork, the lamp is safe to use, no matter what kind of an elaborate whimsy you choose as a lampshade.
Source: Dezeen, Designboom
Like many great things – this one was created by accident. One day St-Petersburg based designer Soslan Naniev was designing a street bench and came with the idea of a chair that can at the same time work as a stool. In its stool version, the item can be tucked under the table. And when the formal dining situation looms on you, you can transform it with the flick of a finger into a believably looking chair. Nice and simple.
This modular furniture collection by designer Sanjin Halilovic can play several roles – from a shelving unit to a table, chair, even chaise-lounge. The set consists of four elements that are constructed of wooden plaques fixed together with drvofix adhesive and finished in acrylic mat paint. Rearranging them is easy, and by doing so one can build different objects. Don’t we just love when one pice of furniture doubles, triples (and in this case – quadruples) in function?
Is it a couch, lounger, or sectional? The Fossa sofa from COR is all of the above. Created by French designer Aurélien Barbry, this unusual piece of furniture functions according to the principle of change. Not only Fossa can be used as a building block for creating different configurations, the very structure of it is also adjustable. The cushions are placed in recesses. They are inserted, moved or removed, which makes Fossa even more dynamic. These recesses, when not filled with cushions, can be used to store books, magazines and other small items. And with plentiful color combinations available, the Fossa sofa can be customized to fit any design whim.
