Sight Unseen's Jill Singer recently talked to Shay Alkalay, the London-based designer and one half of design firm Raw-Edges (along with partner Yael Mer); you'll recognize their Pivot wall cabinet, above, from 2008. Singer was lucky enough to see a piece that Alkalay and Mer created not for the public, but for their own apartment: The unusual Book Case, below, which suspends the books from wooden slats that double as removeable bookmarks. The spines of the books then become a tabletop.
The piece [was inspired] by a recent trip to Ikea to buy a wardrobe, during which the two became keenly aware of the waste involved in producing most large pieces of furniture. "At Ikea, you have to buy the doors, the shelves, the sides, the back panel," says Alkalay. "But really all you're going to use are the shelves." For clothes, the two conceded, you wouldn't really want your mess on view. But people love to show off their books.(more...)