Help

Brain Pickings takes 200+ hours a month to curate and edit. If you find any joy and value in it, we would really appreciate a modest donation.

Subscribe

  • Subscribe by RSS feed
  • Subscribe by email

Connect

  • Follow on Twitter
  • Stumble It
  • Add to del.icio.us
  • Become a Fan
  • TwitterCounter for @brainpicker
ted.com

16

Dec

2009

The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs

By Maria Popova

Earthquakes, minimalism, and how to reconcile your inner bookworm with your design fetish.

We love books. We love design. And we love the intersection of the two. Some time ago, we looked at five examples of public library innovation. But what about the personal library? Today, we’re turning to five gorgeous bookshelves that put a twist on your home library with ingenuity and design innovation.

DISASTER

Order and chaos converge in Mexican designer Victor Barish’s brilliant Disaster — a cleverly designed bookshelf that looks like it belongs in a swanky LA loft, post-shake.

If the “sexy librarian” fantasy-stereotype had an interior design equivalent, Disaster would be it.

LILI LITE

Bookreading can be broken down to three key components: Storing, bookmarking and lighting. Enter Lili Lite, a bookshelf that combines all three in one brilliantly intuitive design.

One side lets you stack your reading list, the other offers a nifty corner to bookmark your current read as you prop it open.

Bonus points for making the light an energy-saving LED.

TREE SHELF

From Korean designer Shawn Soh comes this lovely, makes-you-glow-when-you-look-at-it Tree Bookshelf.

The concept was inspired by Soh’s early memories of sticking letters on tree branches.

Each bookshelf takes a week to produce, as she does all the welding and bending by hand. It’s made out of recyclable metal rather than wood, in order to avoid the rather ironic cutting down of trees.

via Swiss Miss

ECCO

Minimalist and seamless, the Ecco shelf from Parisian furniture manufacturer Artelano and design studio ora ito is made out of timber-based honeycomb wafer materials, taken from certified sustainable forests.

OutIKEAing IKEA, the slick Ecco is assembled without any screws, by the simple interlocking of components.

via designboom

SELF SHELF

Now that we’ve seen a few bookshelf divas that draw attention with quirk and design goodness, how about one that shies away from the spotlight and remains, quite literally, invisible?

Enter the Self Shelf, which some may recall from a long, long time ago.

This bold assault on gravity is actually a clever and simple trick: The “shelf” is a fake book at the bottom of the stack that attaches securely to the wall, titled — equally cleverly — Ceci n’est pas un livre (This Is Not A Book).

No place for a physics textbook, this one.

BONUS

And for the hardcore bookshelf-lover, here’s some pretty impressive behind-the-scences timelapse footage of the construction of a custom floor-to-ceiling bookshelf for a DC condo. The organic curved surface was created with 3D software, then built out of 17 sheets of birch plywood.

Psst, we’ve launched a fancy weekly newsletter. It comes out on Sundays, offers the week’s articles, and features five more tasty bites of web-wide interestingness. Here’s an example. Like? Sign up.

You may also enjoy:

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 16th, 2009 at 9:34 am in culture, design and was tagged , , .

39 Responses

  1. The Bookshelf Rethought – 5 brilliantly innovative designs for the bookworm with a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    brainpicker on December 16th, 2009 at 10:06 am

  2. RT @brainpicker: The Bookshelf Rethought – 5 brilliantly innovative designs for the bookworm with a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    leiyireads on December 16th, 2009 at 10:09 am

  3. RT @brainpicker The Bookshelf Rethought – 5 brilliantly innovative designs for the bookworm with a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    neboweb on December 16th, 2009 at 10:10 am

  4. For book addicts: RT @brainpicker: The Bookshelf Rethought – 5 brilliantly innovative designs: http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    cameronbarry on December 16th, 2009 at 10:11 am

  5. ? Lili-Lite & Self-Shelf. #Ubercool via @brainpicker 5 innovative bookshelf designs for the bookworm with a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    sanjeevn on December 16th, 2009 at 10:16 am

  6. ???? ?? tree bookshelf! ??????!!! RT @brainpicker: The Bookshelf Rethought – designs for the bookworm with a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    mariza_g on December 16th, 2009 at 10:26 am

  7. For Marla, a librarian friend @brainpicker The Bookshelf Rethought, 5 innovative designs for a bookworm w/a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    cuprado on December 16th, 2009 at 10:50 am

  8. Design fetish + inner bookworm = the bookshelf rethought. 5 innovative examples via @brainpicker: http://bit.ly/5MLBcD

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    corynhughes on December 16th, 2009 at 10:58 am

  9. RT @brainpicker The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs http://ow.ly/1mJ1hU

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    iJBRO on December 16th, 2009 at 12:38 pm

  10. If you missed it earlier: The Bookshelf Rethought, 5 innovative designs for a bookworm w/a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    brainpicker on December 16th, 2009 at 4:48 pm

  11. RT @brainpicker: If you missed it earlier: The Bookshelf Rethought, 5 innovative designs for a bookworm w/a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    LisaSonoraBeam on December 16th, 2009 at 4:49 pm

  12. Gulben: The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs http://bit.ly/7PshBe

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    design_related on December 16th, 2009 at 4:51 pm

  13. RT @brainpicker: If you missed it earlier: The Bookshelf Rethought, 5 innovative designs for a bookworm w/a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    rainmakertom on December 16th, 2009 at 4:54 pm

  14. The Bookshelf Rethought | 5 innovative designs http://ow.ly/MF51 via @brainpicker // i’ll take a lili light & several self shelves, pls!

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    ettagirl on December 16th, 2009 at 5:01 pm

  15. In love with these book shelfs: http://ow.ly/1mJ1hU (via @brainpicker)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    daverad on December 16th, 2009 at 5:44 pm

  16. I want one of each in my home! RT @daverad In love with these book shelfs: http://ow.ly/1mJ1hU (via @brainpicker)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    AngryGirlfriend on December 16th, 2009 at 6:03 pm

  17. [...] Visit Source. [...]

    The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs on December 16th, 2009 at 6:08 pm

  18. RT @brainpicker The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs http://ow.ly/1mJ1hU

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    rafaeleminero on December 16th, 2009 at 6:26 pm

  19. [...] The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs | Brain Pickings (tags: design bookshelf bookshelves house books) [...]

  20. The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs – http://bit.ly/81dd0U

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    bkmacdaddy on December 16th, 2009 at 10:01 pm

  21. RT @bkmacdaddy: The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs – http://bit.ly/81dd0U

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    Element321 on December 16th, 2009 at 10:03 pm

  22. RT @bkmacdaddy: The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs – http://bit.ly/81dd0U

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    SophieZo on December 16th, 2009 at 10:04 pm

  23. RT @bkmacdaddy: The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs – http://bit.ly/81dd0U * I love the last one!

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    AJdigitalFocus on December 16th, 2009 at 10:24 pm

  24. [...] ???????????????????????????????????????????????????via [...]

    Lili Lite ?? | simple style on December 16th, 2009 at 11:07 pm

  25. RT @brainpicker: If you missed it earlier: The Bookshelf Rethought, 5 innovative designs for a bookworm w/a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    prathambooks on December 17th, 2009 at 2:28 am

  26. Ohhh! Goodness! I feel some of these designs being stoleeeennnn.. :)

    TeddyZ on December 17th, 2009 at 3:40 am

  27. Here’s five innovative bookshelf designs: http://bit.ly/8xjj4M – I’m wondering what the digital bookshelf will look like. What do you think?

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    openmargin on December 17th, 2009 at 1:56 pm

  28. Here’s five innovative bookshelf designs: http://bit.ly/8xjj4M – I’m wondering what the digital bookshelf will look like. (via @openmargin)

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    joepkuijper on December 17th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

  29. The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs http://ff.im/-d994h

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    mustafaduran on December 20th, 2009 at 6:42 am

  30. RT @brainpicker: The Bookshelf Rethought, 5 innovative designs for a bookworm w/a design fetish http://ow.ly/MF51 wish I could buy Disaster

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    CammiesThoughts on December 20th, 2009 at 11:19 am

  31. The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs > http://bit.ly/4GJGcD

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    mochipark on December 20th, 2009 at 11:46 pm

  32. Ahh… How I LOVE shelves! RT @mochipark: The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs > http://bit.ly/4GJGcD

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    blink on December 20th, 2009 at 11:49 pm

  33. @thingbuzz Ahh… How I LOVE shelves! RT @mochipark: The Bookshelf Rethought: 5 Innovative Designs > http://bit.ly/4GJGcD /via @blink

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    genesoo on December 20th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

  34. http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2009/12/16/bookshelf-design-innovation/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium.. http://bit.ly/5BQXfL

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    Xhatch on December 23rd, 2009 at 4:05 am

  35. A bookshelf doesn’t have to be boring: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2009/12/16/bookshelf-design-innovation/

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    AmelieCompany on December 23rd, 2009 at 7:28 pm

  36. Rethinking the bookshelf. 5 innovative designs for bookshelves via @brainpickings http://bit.ly/4sUgk0

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    loremipsumbooks on January 4th, 2010 at 7:48 pm

  37. RT @loremipsumbooks: Rethinking the bookshelf. 5 innovative designs for bookshelves via @brainpickings http://bit.ly/4sUgk0

    This comment was originally posted on Twitter

    Jonna258 on January 4th, 2010 at 7:54 pm

  38. [...] few months ago, we looked at five brilliantly innovative bookcase and bookshelf designs, and then we looked at five more. Today, we’re back with — you guessed it — yet [...]

    The Bookshelf Rethought, Part 3 | Brain Pickings on May 18th, 2010 at 12:01 am

  39. [...] few months ago, we looked at five brilliantly innovative bookcase and bookshelf designs, and then we looked at five more. Today, we’re back with — you guessed it — yet [...]

Comments? Give Brain Pickings a piece of your mind:

«
»