April 18, 2012
FAN Table from Mauricio Affonso on Vimeo.
Just as Robert van Embricqs’ magical, shape-shifting ”Rising Table” effortlessly moves from two-to-three dimensions, so the Fan Table transcends its seemingly rigid frame to morph into an array of different configurations and sizes. Designed by Mauricio Affonso, the piece is comprised of a deceptively ordinary wood lattice that supports a surface-top made up of over 400 slats, which can be easily manipulated to conform to any shape. In its default poise, the table can be expanded and shortened along a linear axis, to be used for dining or as a coffee table, respectively. But that’s only the half of it: the legs of the frame can be pivoted at angles so as to form a hexagonal footprint, with the slats splayed on top in a circular pattern. Affonso describes the table as an “infrastructure for social interaction”, able to adapt to any situation or dictate the rules of the (dinner) game.
[via Gizmodo]
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April 12, 2012
The promise of modularity and infinite flexibility embodied by the more ideological projects from the 1960s has not only been long fulfilled, but thoroughly exploited by late capitalist culture. That may or may not be a good thing (probably not), but it’s a fact of contemporary existence that extends to every aspect of our lives. Except, it seems, to our staid, stubbornly Cartesian bookshelves. Enter this modular shelving system, a set of interconnected and expandable crates which grows with your book and publication collection.
The units, made of bamboo and connected with circular pegs, can be pulled and manipulated to form several configurations, can be angled or laid flat, and can be combined with other sets. Designed by Andrew Gancikov and John Fitzpatrick, the system can quickly co-opt your living room, especially in the hands of an architect, who will sacrifice space for this trophy case of oversized monographs and mounds of unread philosophy or economic tomes, until checked by financial realities (one set is $350). The bookshelf is available at the MoMA store.
[via CoolMaterial]
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