Parisian Designer Modernises Furniture Use
When it comes to kitting out your home or the office with an array of new furniture, common questions that you can expect to be asked are ‘Where is that going to go?’ and ‘I love it, but it’s not the right shape or size’. Sound familiar?
Optimise Moveable Space?
With house prices going up, feeling cramped and claustrophobic within a small amount of space is only made worse by chunky and clumpy furniture. So, when we’re adorning our homes and workspaces with new designs, how can we ensure that we optimise movable space, yet still receive all of the practical benefits offered by a typical furniture collection?
Well, one French designer has taken that very mystery under his furniture-creating wing and has produced pieces that not only change the way furniture looks, but also how we utilise it.
Changing Our Outlook
Parisian-based designer Gilles Belley believes that we need to change the way we think about furniture. Rather than treating every item of furniture as a sardine that must be immediately stuffed into a tin can, we must think of furniture as space itself. This change in the way we think about furniture has enabled Belley to innovate, inspire and evolve the way we use furniture.
Following a grant for research from the French organisation VIA, which encourages and supports local design, Belley took on the research project to brainstorm and create furniture pieces that reflect modern-day living. And as more of us have less space, or live a more nomadic lifestyle, his pieces seek to overcome the challenges attached to our contemporary lifestyles.
Three Contemporary Designs
From his research, Belley was able to produce three designs that all sought to offer more flexibility and space-saving options in our domestic environment.
The collection, entitled ‘Rooms’, comprises a trio of free-standing architectural structures that are movable around the house or when moving house, and are adaptable to suit the environment, removing any unnecessary time, stress and cost.
Rather than thinking of furniture as fitting into the space you have, why not consider it as architecture itself? That way, its benefits are threefold: it’s easily transportable, it has a clear purpose and practical benefit, and saves space within the environment.
Wall
Removing the problem of trying to add rooms or divide them in half, Belley’s first design, Wall, provides an effective solution to this by acting as a temporary room divider. It is complete with reconfigurable shelves, with some of them even being deep enough to become a desk. And so, hey presto, you’ve got a fully functioning room divider that can also be transformed into a desk.
Area
The second marvel, Belley has created, Area, shows the importance of requiring space-saving options in larger spaces. It is perfect for slightly larger spaces that require a workspace ideal for reading and comes equipped with bookshelves.
Block
Thirdly, Block is arguably the most ingenious and space-saving option of them all. On first appearances, it merely looks like a cabinet. However, on closer inspection, it becomes clear that it is capable of sitting a narrow bed at the top of it. While the sleeping space can be accessed by a small ladder, the other side has a writing unit.
The saying less is more is certainly true when it comes to space. And with Belley’s designs, surely we can never complain we have too little space again.
If you’d like to see more space-saving options, check out our range of foldable tables and stackable chairs, thousands available for immediate delivery.
Source: Take a look at the work by Gilles Belley
http://www.fastcodesign.com/3055809/wanted/the-ultimate-furniture-for-tiny-apartments-and-nomadic-living
