Tag Archives: Shelving units

Scandinavian-inspired Storage Solutions for the modern millennial home owners who love an element of minimalism!

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Our modern millennial homes have many virtues, but one thing they lack is…space! Space constraint is a major issue in the cramped apartments most of us end up in today. Although smart storage solutions can be a lifesaver in such tricky and compact situations. But let’s be honest, some of the shelf designs in the markets these days can be downright hideous. They may rate high on form and functionality and even manage to do their job pretty well, but when it comes to aesthetics, they can be an eyesore. But there are some ingenious furniture designers out there who have incorporated Scandinavian aesthetics + functionality into the simple shelf. Have you ever come across Scandinavian designs? There’s something so simply minimal, quaint, and awe-spiring about them. They manage to speak volumes without being loud, nor saying much. They always leave you with a warm feeling in your heart, and intense admiration for the attention to detail, and the delicate touches each design consists of. And these Scandinavian-inspired shelving designs promise to do exactly that! Modern and minimal, these shelving units are the storage solutions you’ve been looking for.

Designed by Julien Renault for Cruso, the NOTES Shelves is “an invitation to play with compositions and colors”. The artfully crafted slabs of light oak slide into a steel frame, creating a clean and minimal wall-mounted shelf that provides a wonderful storage space, while also allowing you to proudly display your favorite objects and artifacts. The shelves are so simple to set up, that you can do it by yourself at home, with the help of a standard tool (which is provided along with the shelving unit). The NOTES Shelves’ edges have been uniquely sanded and rounded, making them soft and smooth to touch.

The Corner Shelves by Dose of Modern is a pair of square-shaped shelves that smoothly intertwine with one another, creating a cute little matrix of shelves! The shelves have been designed to be fitted into the corners of your home, thereby ensuring they do not take too much space, while they faithfully store your belongings. The wall shelves come in two color options – a clean white, and light beige. Their minimal aesthetics and colors help them artfully merge into any living space or room they are placed into.

Designed by Pierre Charrié for Junddo Furniture, the Tana Modular Shelves is a configurable bookshelf whose dimensions can be selected and customized via an online configurator! So you can pick and create the ideal bookshelf for your home, according to your books and space requirements. Solid wood planks with soft rounded edges that are held together by a strong joinery system constitute the modular shelving unit.

Student designers Calvin and Bence recently created their own interpretation of entryway storage with Bügal, a piece of fusion furniture that’s one half coat rack and one half shelf system. When conceptualizing Bügal, the student designers relied on 3D printing to establish a mold for the unit’s body before grinding, smoothing, and painting it over to achieve its finished, semi-matte, silicone-style look. The hybrid unit of furniture hangs from a wooden peg in a similar fashion to the traditional clothes hanger, but it ditches the hook grip for a more secure peg and socket.

Designed by Maximilian Lötzer, the MYX shelf comprises of three elongated slabs of varying lengths, each crafted from birch wood. The slabs are held together by orange-colored leather straps, creating a product that combines the modern and traditional principles of carpentry and saddlery. The leather and wood complement each other, and merge with one another seamlessly, leading to a minimal shelving unit inspired by the functionality and aesthetics of Scandinavian design.

The SMĪLE Shelf may officially be an acronym for Sustainable Module for your Inspired Living Environment, but I’d like to believe it’s called SMĪLE because it literally puts smiles on peoples’ faces with its minimalist design and unique back-story. This modular shelf, designed for practically any interior aesthetic, any room, and for any scenario, comes made from recycled bamboo chopsticks. It is a modular system that relies on recycled steel frames that fix to a wall, holding shelves in between. The steel frames can be arranged practically in any orientation and arrangement, giving you the freedom to create your own shelving design that can even be expanded if you want to, in the future!

The Looped Shelf by We Do Wood is a true example of authentic Nordish design. Crafted from smoked oak, the shelf features looped-shaped brackets. The smoked oak brings an element of warmth to any living space, with the brass mounting brackets perfectly contrasting against it. You can set up multiple Looped Shelves to build a sturdy shelving system that creates its own powerful presence in any room.

The Sena Wall Shelf by Vitamin Design is made up of narrow elements constructed from solid wood. Subtle and reduced lines characterize the body of the wooden shelf. The shelf can be built made to measure, and configured according to your personal preferences. It’s also available in a wide variety of wood – ash, beech, core beech, cherry, maple, oak, knotty oak, walnut, knotty walnut. The extensive material and customization options help you create a shelving unit that’ll perfectly meet your storage needs.

Designed by Martin Keller, the Pereire Bookshelf is an elegant and simple shelving unit that stores your books and other items quite spaciously and artfully. A long solid wooden pole on one side of the bookshelf supports the entire unit, while elongated wooden slabs function as the storage platforms for your belongings. The other end of the bookshelf is meant to be supported by a wall, making it partially wall-mounted.

The Up-Cycled Cat Shelf use discarded pieces of wood that are finished, sanded, and smoothened to a standardized shape before being clad in a felt carpet for the cat to comfortably rest on without their nails digging into the wood. The shelf rests on two sturdy brackets sourced from IKEA, creating a setup that isn’t just robust and reliable but is literally just made out of 3 parts. Designed to look chic, but also be functionally sound for your neurotic cat, the Up-Cycled Cat Shelf can be placed anywhere at home, from the living room or bedroom to even the bathroom. It’s a shelving unit for your kitties!

This coatrack turned shelf brings a modern, quirky spin to your entryway storage!

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Every entryway should have some form of storage bin where you can throw your keys, your jacket, and all the stuff in your pockets collected during the day. It comes in handy when you’re running late and don’t have the time to spend looking for where you last tossed your keys. Student designers Calvin and Bence recently created their own interpretation of entryway storage with Bügal, a piece of fusion furniture that’s one half coat rack and one half shelf system.

When conceptualizing Bügal, the student designers relied on 3D printing to establish a mold for the unit’s body before grinding, smoothing, and painting it over to achieve its finished, semi-matte, silicone-style look. The hybrid unit of furniture hangs from a wooden peg in a similar fashion to the traditional clothes hanger, but it ditches the hook grip for a more secure peg and socket. Calvin and Bence designed Bügal for the sake of combining the dual functions from a coat rack and a shelving unit, to provide a unique storage system that could fit into any entryway, office space, or bedroom.

Thanks to its familiar shape and uncomplicated design, Bügal looks at home in any space. The combination of a wider frame with a sturdier gripping method allows Bügal to hang more than one piece of clothing and to store even bulkier portable items like film cameras and potted plants. Bügal’s shape is akin to that of a regular clothes hanger, but its deep pocket creates space for everyday carry items like keys, wallets, and smartphones. By merging the practical function of a coat rack with all the storage space provided by a drawer or shelf, Bügal can store a lot of your things and also help cut down the time spent turning your living room inside out to find your keys.

Designers: Calvin Middel & Bencekommt

With a deep shelf and wide-body, Bügal can hang heavier coats and store even your bulkier items.

Thanks to its shelving feature, Bügal can function as a display unit for things like potted plants and art decor.

Bügal’s initial prototype was formed from styrofoam and then given a mold through 3D printing.

Through post-processing work, Bügal was sanded, carved, and painted over to give it a glossy, yet matte look.

With a wooden frame, Bügal is both durable and handy.

Bügal ditches the tradition hook grip used by most clothes hangers for a more secure peg and socket hanging method.

Bookshelf designs as unique as you are: Part 2

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I’m a bibliophile through and through! Give me a good book, and I could curl up reading it for hours on end. And with winter slowly creeping in, snuggling into bed with my favorite book and a cozy blanket has never seemed more tempting. My love for books means I own a lot of them, and any true bibliophile will agree that storing them can often be a major pain. Stuffing all your favorite novels into a single space without damaging any of them, and making sure the whole affair looks presentable as well? Now, that’s a tough task. So, we’ve rounded up some super cool, functional and not to mention aesthetically pleasing bookshelf designs for you to store your paperback companions in!

The Book Chair by Sou Fujimoto is in fact a bookshelf with a chair embedded in it! The chair can be slid in and out, due to a chair-shaped section in the bookshelf. When fitted into the shelf, the chair acts as a storage space itself. But when pulled out, you can hop onto it and read your favorite book in peace. This multifunctional piece of furniture is perfect for homes whose residents are major readers!

The LoculaMENTUM Bookshelf by Michael Schlütter is a traditional wooden bookcase with a modern ‘twist’! The twist allows you to store your favorite books, mementos, and other collectibles in an interesting and artful manner. The diagonal compartments running through the center of the bookshelf provide maximum storage space and also provide an intriguing modern element to an otherwise traditional bookshelf structure. I would deem this bookshelf simply yet saucy!

The CTline Bookshelf by Victor Vasilev consists of long shelving units placed alongside each other. However, they all have different heights and depths, creating an interesting contrasting effect, making them look a little 3D! The matte white bookshelf would look right at home in any modern and minimal living space. I wouldn’t mind this one for my bedroom!

The ABC Bookcase by REdesign is a bookcase you can actually read and write! The modular shelving units have been shaped like different alphabets, you can also rearrange the square modules to create whichever alphabet you like. The versatile piece of furniture could be an interesting addition to the room of young children, who are still learning to read and write! A bookshelf that stores books, and is also a book in itself? I would have loved this in my room as a kid!

The Pin Pres by OOO My Design is a customizable and modular shelving unit that’s perfect for storing your books! You can pull out a pin and form a shelf, or push in a pin and create space for storage. The Pin Pres is a fun and interactive bookshelf that makes storing and rearranging your books a playful experience.

The Rocking Chair Bookcase by Sofia Alexiou is one of my personal favorites! Shaped like a rocking chair, the upper half of the bookshelf is the perfect lounging spot for you to read your book in, whereas the bottom half functions as a storage space for your books. So pick your favorite book, grab a pillow, and get comfy on this Chair/Bookcase for a long reading session!

Libro by JO-A is a staircase that also doubles up as a bookshelf! The stairs also serve as a footstool or as a spot for you to sit and read your book in. The interior section of the stairs functions as a storage space wherein you can place your books, collectibles, artifacts and other miscellaneous items. Made from steel and bamboo, which create an interesting contrast, it could be a cool addition to your living space.

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The Chuck, a Red Dot winning bookshelf, ticks all my boxes for innovation and design. It’s simple in its construction, easy to use, fun to interact with, can store books/media of different types and sizes, has the capacity to look strikingly different every time you make a change to it, and is very capable of being the most interesting piece of furniture in your room. With two metal members on either side holding together six strips of wooden veneer, the Chuck bends and flexes as you place books on/between the veneer sheets, creating undulating waves of wood that store your books, CDs, plaques, and objets d’art.

The Isola Bookcase by Massimo Castagna is a beautiful shelving unit built from satin silver-plated brass shelves. The brass shelves are held in place by tempered glass slabs, creating an elegant and modern piece of furniture that would look sensational in any home.

The Trap Bookcase by Kambiam is a modular storage unit that can be rearranged and customized according to your preference. You can rearrange the modules, creating various geometric shapes, that serve as intriguing bookshelves! Quirky and fun, this bookshelf can be modified into numerous sizes, depending on the number of books you have to store.

For more such interesting bookshelf designs, check out Part 1 of this post!