Minimalist wooden furniture uses curved shapes to add storage spaces

Furniture takes up space, there’s really no getting around that. Of course, you need that space to actually use the furniture, but the furniture themselves aren’t always in use. You might not sit on those chairs or couches all day, and tables might be empty at certain points in time. During those moments, they might just be wasting space, so it sometimes pays to have them perform some other purpose, even if it means just looking pretty. That’s not to say you have to stop at looks, especially if such aesthetic furniture can also function as storage spaces, like what this collection of design concepts tries to achieve using nothing but simple curved layers of plywood.

Designer: Julian Topor

Partly thanks to the popularity of flat-packed products from the likes of IKEA, minimalist wooden furniture has become a popular choice in households. Their simple designs save space not only in packaging but sometimes also on the floor. Furniture, however, can also become a space to place some of your things, from books to accessories to even shoes. The KURVE furniture collection accomplishes this without having to resort to complicated construction or mechanisms, using only curves that wrap around an empty space to create a hollow nook for your stuff.

The throne-like KURVE chair, for example, has no legs but instead has a curved backless box for its bottom half. What makes its design particularly interesting is that the seat, backrest, and arms are all made from the same single sheet of layered plywood, just bent on the back and sides to create those support structures.

The KURVE Couch stretches out this concept, quite literally, to provide sitting for two. A central console splits the couch in half and provides a small area to place cups and phones, as well as a compartment below for things like the TV remote. The bottom of the couch is an even wider space for more things, whether or not they have business being there.

The table is admittedly the simplest of them all, nothing more than a wooden trapezoid to hold things above and below it. Its lengthy shape makes it more suited to be placed against walls rather than being a center table, perhaps somewhere near the front door so your shoes and keys can easily find a home for easy access next time you step out.

Last but not least, the KURVE Night Stand is also a trapezoid, just taller and narrower. Like other nightstands, it has a drawer, but this compartment is oddly located a little below the top. This creates yet another space for your things, maybe for a phone that you don’t want to tempt you while you’re resting.

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This ready-to-assemble flat-pack furniture set is made from a single piece of plywood

Wooden furniture is naturally made from different pieces, and most of the time, those pieces are taken from different pieces of wood. Conventional manufacturing processes try to maximize materials, but those often still produce a lot of wasted wood pieces. Because of this, there has been a great deal of interest in designing products like furniture or even vehicles that use up almost every available inch of a sheet of material, minimizing wasted space and wasted material. Of course, it requires a bit of thinking outside the box to be able to utilize almost every surface of wood, cardboard, or metal and turn it into an actual usable product, like this three-piece furniture set that also applies that unconventional thinking to create a chair designed to lean backward.

Designer: Sheridan Kromann

Flat-pack furniture has become popular with people who want to economize on space or expenses, especially when it comes to shipping and assembly. Almost like those wooden puzzle pieces that require no special tools to form an animal or historic landmark, these ready-to-assemble products try to reduce the stress involved when assembling furniture. Of course, ready-made furniture delivered to your house will still be easier, but flat-packs at least don’t require screws or tools to put together. All you need is the ability to follow instructions.

Many flat-pack furniture also come with an implicit benefit. In most cases, the separate pieces can be cut out from a single sheet of material, often wood or fiberboard, which minimizes the wasted material. At first brush, that almost seems like the key feature of the Leaning Chair set, and it’s definitely an important one. All three members of the set are CNC cut from the same 4×8 piece of plywood, and while there are still areas of the sheet that are unused and probably discarded, it’s still a lot less wasteful than conventionally assembled furniture.

The set features a chair, an ottoman for your feet, and a side table to complete the setting. Like any flat-pack furniture, they can all be assembled without screws or tools. You don’t even need fasteners or glue to keep them together. Of course, some people might actually be wary of this kind of assembled furniture, especially chairs that look a bit unstable on their feet. The Leaning Chair, however, is specifically designed that way to prevent one of the most common accidents with chairs.

Some people try to lean back on their chairs and end up falling backward because typical legs aren’t designed to support that use case. This chair’s base, however, curves and extends backward, almost like a rocking chair, allowing the person to lean back safely and with confidence. Unlike a rocking chair, however, it doesn’t tilt forward, making it stand stably and still when you don’t want to lean back.

Admittedly, flat-pack furniture isn’t exactly the prettiest to look at unless you actually prefer that raw, puzzle-like aesthetic. Unfortunately, that same aesthetic might make people less comfortable and less confident in the stability of the products. Either way, the Leaning Chair furniture concept is yet another interesting example of conventions being stretched and broken to create designs that are not only efficient but also sustainable.

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This DIY wooden bicycle is an open source design that makes you think about sustainable living!





This bicycle made of plywood was created with an intent to get more people to focus on sustainability. The open source design is called ‘Openbike’ and despite the obvious problems that come with a bike made from plywood, it is still an affordable and lightweight alternative to those who want to live on a budget but are also eco-conscious. You can download the files to build your own bike here!

“This is not about bicycles! Open your eyes, this is about you, about your attitude towards the future. Do you think that the pollution of the cities will disappear by itself? Do you think traffic jams are caused by others?” reads the Openbike website which makes the mission statement of the design very clear – they’re not claiming to offer the durability or a thief-proof bike but rather shift your perspective on affordability and sustainability.

The multidisciplinary Spanish design studio wants to reduce carbon emissions in cities by empowering people with technology which is why they made Openbike so that the files can be downloaded and fabricated by anyone in the world. They have been prototyping designs since 2017 and the final version is can be used by anyone, incorporates storage racks to transport goods, and employs a simple construction from widely available materials like off-the-shelf plywood.

Architects Raquel Ares and Iñaki Albistur said, “It is a manifesto on sustainable urbanism, urban transport, distributed manufacturing, shared knowledge, the community, and the responsible use of resources, that materializes in the design of a non-polluting urban transport, the bicycle, that can be manufactured by its own use within the city where it is going to be used.”

To fabricate the bike, you have to download the drawings from their website. Then you can take the drawings to a local digital fabrication workshop where the CNC machine cuts the body of the bicycle from plywood and uses 3D printing for elements such as the saddle, front hub, and hand grips which could also be recycled from old bikes depending on the resources available.

The fabrication files for Openbike are licensed under creative commons 4.0, allowing the designs to be improved, modified, manufactured, and shared again by anyone across the world making it a truly accessible design that only gets better. Based on these principles of open design, Arquimaña encourages further development based on the use of local resources but with global techniques and tools adapted – this way each bike is a little unique, localized but also could be scaled on a global level based on characteristics.

The aim is to empower citizens as a transforming agent, putting technology at their service and prioritizing local production with local resources, which generates active and productive cities, looking to the future from an ecological perspective, trying to reduce carbon emissions to a minimum. The project is part of the global fab city initiative, which challenges cities to produce everything they consume by 2054!

Openbike hopes to offer citizens the necessary methods for manufacturing a non-polluting means of urban transport, the bicycle, by themselves. The project isn’t really about the bike itself, though, but rather the idea that people should think about how they can contribute to a better, more sustainable future.

Designer: Arquimaña

This folding chair is inspired by origami and can be literally hung like clothes on a hanger!

Chair designs are the first category designers are told to explore because it is simple and yet the smallest of tweaks can make it innovative. Also, let’s accept it – you never get tired of looking at new chair designs! It could be a new material, a bold shape, maybe it has a dual purpose or something like KERF – a space-saving chair that you can literally hang up like clothing!

It can be called a stool or a chair, but KERF gives the otherwise rigid object warmth and flexibility. You can literally put it on a hanger and store it like clothing in a wardrobe which makes it stand out from its counterparts. When needed, simply open the fold and you can get a setup ready for your guests in a few seconds.

The intention was to enrich plywood, make it flexible and fold it like it was paper for origami art. KERF has been designed for small living spaces and for practicality, it is perfect for those living in urban apartments or shared spaces. It reminds me of Japandi style furniture or Scandinavian home decor with its warm and minimal aesthetics.

The unique chair gets its name from the technique of kerfing – it is the method of bending plywood by patterned cutting. It is only good for doing it once to achieve the desired curvature, but not suitable for repetitive, long-term bending because that would cause the veneer layer to crack. The kerfing technique can be optimized for the CNC milling process to save production time and cost.

The mood board for the project shows bending plywood with kerfing, flat-pack laser cut furniture, folding chairs, and interlocking leather belts – all of these come together in the final design as details. The chair us.es kerfing, the hinges are made from leather, it can be compactly packed and it has an origami-like silhoutte.

To make sure it was durable yet flexible, Hamza decided to use thick leather instead of hinges. This detail lets KERF withstand repetitive bending cycles while the alternative hinge (leather) can outlast the traditional hinge making it a piece of furniture that stays with you in the long run (its moving-friendly too!). KERF is definitely a wonderful example of how chairs can be simple while still adding on to the existing form and function!

Designer: Hamza Bavčić

This flat-pack chair is supported by three rounded legs and requires no tools for assembly!

Developing unique, original ideas for chairs can be a tough ask– chairs have been around forever. Still, perhaps due to their rich, eclectic history, chairs supply an endless source of inspiration for designers. Adding his own interpretation to the mix, Yunjae Lee, a Seoul-based product designer has taken to birch plywood and CNC-milling to design and construct a chair with three rounded legs, requiring no additional tools or hardware for assembly.

Before assembly, Yunjae Lee’s Tri-Round Chair breaks down to eleven separate pieces– reminiscent of IKEA projects. From the looks of it, the eleven pieces of Tri-Round Chair have been CNC-milled to fit into one another like a 3D puzzle. The chair’s center support structure is comprised of two wooden pieces that rest on the ground, providing stability for the chair from the ground up. One longer beam intersects and runs perpendicular to those two boards to connect additional support side legs that cradle the chair’s main seat and backrest. The complex interlocking formation of the Tri-Round Chair ensures stability and a solid structure.

Tri-Round Chair is built from birch plywood that measures 18mm in width. By using thick pieces of plywood, Yunjae Lee was able to create a chair with rounded legs that can support the chair’s weight without any bending or the use of additional hardware. Through innovative, original design, each piece of Tri-Round Chair seamlessly connects with one another to form a finished product that feels familiar while giving the traditional four-legged chair new energy, and one less leg.

Designer: Yunjae Lee

By joining each separate component together, Tri-Round Chair finds support through a complex interlocking building method.

Symmetrical and round by design, Tri-Round Chair comprises eleven separate pieces of birch plywood.

Through interlocking and overlaid assembly, Tri-Round Chair is stable enough to carry weight.

Yunjae Lee painted Tri-Round Chair a darker shade of brown, a sophisticated new look compared to natural plywood.

Before assembly, Tri-Round Chair can be seen as eleven separate pieces, echoing what might appear as a project from IKEA.

The TEMP Chair turns product-packaging into actual furniture!

The story behind the TEMP Chair is quite short and sweet. Hoyoung ordered a couple of plywood sheets from a carpentry store. The sheets came wrapped in woven straps, which Hoyoung unpacked carefully, orienting the plywood sheets in the shape of a chair before securing the straps back in place. Voila, that’s really all it took for Hoyoung to make the TEMP chair, or what I refer to as creative accidental IKEA furniture.

The chair’s unburnished design and shortcut aesthetic is exactly what makes it such an appealing piece. It really gives IKEA a run for its money, with a chair that’s literally flat-packed, easy to assemble and even disassemble. The chair’s packaging (the nylon straps) ends up being the very element holding the furniture together, giving you a unique seating device with zero wastage. The wooden planks come together to form a rather rustic looking piece of furniture, while the bright orange nylon straps give it a pop of color. A ratchet sits on the back, allowing you to tighten or loosen the straps – a feature that’s useful when you’re assembling or disassembling the chair. When you need to move, the straps help secure the wooden planks together, allowing you to flat-pack your TEMP chair and shift it around efficiently!

Designer: Hoyoung Joo

This vase is a container for nature, inspired by nature!

Take a glance at the Gont vase and it’s easy to tell what it’s inspired by. The vase comes with a layered plywood construction and a pattern that closely resembles a pinecone, giving the vase a nice touch of bio-mimicry while also making it as pretty and alluring as the plant you place within it.

The Gont’s raw, edgy, wooden design is perhaps best suited for small, non-flowering trees. The vase comes with its signature wooden outer, and a cylindrical sheet-metal inner container to actually hold the plant. At a little over a foot tall, the vase is ideal for keeping on mantelpieces… preferably ones that get a lot of light so that it can then catch those beautiful sharp shadows thanks to its multiple pinecone-inspired facets.

Designer: Michael Samoriz

This wooden hammock was designed to be just as flexible and comfortable as a fabric one

Adam Cornish’s Wooden Hammock challenges the notion that Hammocks need to be built from flexible materials like cloth or rope. It instead, comes with a series of wooden strips, suspended together by rope, with rubber members between the wooden pieces to spread them out and prevent them from rubbing against one another. Ultimately, designed to be a rest for your spine, the Wooden Hammock takes inspiration from it, using a series of wooden vertebrae to achieve flexibility!

The hammock comes manufactured from plantation-grown Accoya plywood, letting it have the same strength as regular wood but with lesser ecological impact. The plywood gives it a unique texture around its edges, allowing you to admire the wood’s individual ply-layers.

Designer: Adam Cornish Design

A plywood stool with some bounce!

Exploiting plywood’s ability to be flexible but hold its shape rather well, designers from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen created the Mågen stool, a stool that takes inspiration from Sori Yanagi’s Butterfly Stool, but adds some bounce to it! Comprised of six individual molded plywood pieces, the Mågen stool allows you to sit on it, and the two upper plywood layers flex under your weight, giving you the feeling of sitting on a cushion. The flexible layers not only make the Mågen a stool that’s comfortable to sit on, they also create an element of interaction that will surely have you bouncing up and down with a feeling that’s 80% delight and 20% curiosity!

Designers: Pernille Løgstrup Iversen, Rikke Palmerston & Fatima Fransson.

The chair that makes plywood feel comfortable

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The Karekla (greek for Chair) employs a neat trick to make plywood literally bend to your demands. With a series of vertical cuts and a support at the base, the Karekla looks flat before you sit on it, and when you do, takes the shape of your backside as it bends with your weight. Designed using waste wooden plywood pieces, the Karelka chair looks straightforward but “succumbs to the weight of the user and create a comfortable seating”. The minute you stand up, the wooden ply reverts to its original shape, bringing a nifty shape-memory feature to plywood, making the seat not only long-lasting, but comfortable too. So as to make sure the plywood doesn’t bend too much, a curved support at the base acts as a rest for individual vertical plywood members.

The Karekla is a winner of the A’ Design Award for the year 2018.

Designer: Phebos Xenakis

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