Tag Archives: foldable design

This versatile lounge chair opens up every room with its foldable build and Scandinavian design

Posted on by

Living in small spaces calls for either multifunctional or foldable furniture. When you have the choice to fold up and stow away a lounge chair or use hidden compartments in a bed frame for storage, the space in your bedroom or living area completely opens up. Following the debut of their modular FK Bookcase System, furniture maker Carl Hansen & Søn introduces the Plico Chair, a handcrafted wooden lounge chair that folds into itself for easy storage.

The Plico Chair got its name from the Latin translation, “To fold.” Built using Scandinavian design flairs and minimal ornamentation, the Plico Chair’s frame is crafted from solid oak wood for a natural look and sturdy base. The rear legs of the Plico Chair fall back, allowing a natural recline for the cushion to rest. Upholstered in linen canvas, the cushion also evokes a subtle comfort with organic tones and lasting protection from inevitable wear and tear. A natural leather hide strap extends from the rear legs to the front of a chair to create an armrest propped up with a center wooden peg. Designed to be disassembled for easy storage, the Plico Chair features exposed brass fitting and visible joints, enhancing its already elemental aesthetic.

With such an elegant look and versatile design, Knud Erik Hansen, CEO of Carl Hansen & Søn describes the chair’s appeal, “The Plico Chair is an extremely versatile piece of furniture – not only in its function of being a foldable lounge chair, but also in its appearance, and it fits elegantly into the living room, the cottage, and the hotel room and lobby. It is a comfortable and cozy chair to sit in with a good book and a cup of coffee.”

Designer: Carl Hansen & Søn

The Plico Chair comes in two forms, one includes a headrest, while the other does not.

Easily disassembled, the Plico Chair fold into itself for easy storage and portability.

The Plico Chair was designed to add an elegant, yet inviting flair to every room.

Leather strap and exposed brass fittings give the Plico Chair an elemental look.

Canvas linen covering gives the Plico Chair a comfortable and durable feel.

An innovative wooden hinge easily folds this multifunctional bookshelf in half!

Posted on by

Interior design relies on changing styles to keep things interesting. New trends and color schemes have a way of dictating the trajectory of new products. Then, there are interior design products that stand the test of time and changing trends. These are the pieces of furniture that move with us from apartment to apartment. Student designers Rasmus Palmgren and Hanna Höglund gave their own remix of the traditional bookshelf, designing a foldable bookshelf that consists of shelves, a cabinet, and a drawer.

Timeless pieces of furniture like bookshelves and armoires seem to be most functional when they’re stripped down and designed to accommodate their most essential use. At first, Palmgren’s and Höglund’s bookshelf appears as an ordinary, minimal bookshelf, but a closer look reveals the intricate cabinetry work that went into the ‘Fold Shelf’s’ design. The folding mechanisms that fill out Fold Shelf also allow the unit to shrink down to nearly half its size compared to when it’s fully opened and ready for use. The designers say that Fold Shelf was designed as a Swedish cabinetmaker’s, or journeyman’s piece, requiring the incorporation of a pull-out drawer, hinges, veneered surfaces, and joints.

In building Fold Shelf, Palmgren and Höglund hoped to create a piece of furniture for flexible living, allowing owners to bring the bookshelf with them as they move to different places. Fold Shelf is filled out with wooden hinges that comprise a folding system, allowing the shelf unit to be dismantled and reassembled without the use of tools or additional hardware. Each individual shelf is connected to the unit’s frame and forms an X via wooden beams that merge at a wooden hinge.

The shelf’s wooden hinge allows the beams to fold onto one another, shrinking the bookshelf down to its ladder frame, which could alternatively be used as a rack for hanging. However Fold Shelf is used, the thoughtful combination of minimal cabinetry work with an adaptive design gives Fold Shelf an air of modern sophistication, while not compromising its simple assembly.

Designers: Rasmus Palmgren and Hanna Höglund

Fold Shelf is outfitted with a wooden hinge system which gives it a foldable structure.

To use the shelf, the wooden beams connected to the shelf’s hinge need to be fixed apart.

In addition to the product’s foldable design, Fold Shelf features a cabinet and a pull-out drawer to double as bookends.

When fully opened, Fold Shelf is a minimal bookshelf with a Scandinavian design.

Top shelves made from wooden boards rest on top of the shelves’ hinges, locking into place with a peg-and-socket.

When disassembled, Fold Shelf shrinks down to nearly half its size.