shelving & display

Max Bill was the first director of the Ulm Design Stool which was the successor to the Bauhaus in postwar Germany. With his colleague Hans Gugelot, Bill designed this stool for use in the school and it was made by the students in wood shop. It is both light and robust and very multi-functional. It can be used as a stool, end table, side table, put side-by-side for a coffee table, or stacked as bookshelves.

"Beauty of function" and "beauty as function" were two important themes to Max Bill (1908-1994), especially evident in this collection of furniture characterized by clarity of design, simplicity, logic and economical use of materials. Max Bill studied at the Bauhaus in 1927-28 under the tutelage of Albers, Moholy-Nagy, Klee and Kandinsky. His interest in industrial design grew with the economic boom after the war, and in the importance of the appearance of things, an influence which came from the impressive talent from America. This collection is produced by WB Form, the distributor arm of the furniture store Wohnbedarf for which Max Bill designed most of these pieces. Made in Germany and Switzerland.

This collection of stackable modular shelving units by Austrian-born artist Johannes Girardoni raises the artistry of this traditional design concept with sliding acrylic panels hand-painted by the artist. Used as stackable shelving or as a room divider, Case Study Shelving combines standard, rectangular plywood units available in three sizes with panels available in five saturated colors that can be mixed and matched and viewed from both sides. Each panel shows the artist's brush strokes that pull the acrylic across the panel leaving streaks and open spaces in its path. Leave the panels exposed and they display like artwork inside the shelves, or place books and objects in the units and let the panels provide a vibrant background. Made-to-order; please allow 12-16 weeks for fabrication.

Peter Simensky’s work investigates the nature of value and its accretion. His limited edition, hand-made plywood milk-crate confronts these two issues in tandem by offering an adaptable utility. Intended to function as a blank canvas for the creative act of collecting, the ironic nature of the ubiquitous crate available to the masses coupled with the elite act of art collecting sums up Simensky’s interests in a tidy, little box. Collector can be flipped over as an end table or, with two or four as shown on the left, put together as a coffee table, stacked as shelving, or used for storage.

Each crate is signed and numbered by the artist.