Cabinets
Cupboards are a diverse group; their only common trait is an enclosed storage space, whose further purpose is left undefined. Terry Dwan’s ‘Anima 1’ for Riva 1920, a wooden, slightly rough cupboard with an open-top shelf, is just such a design: suitable for storing clothes, crockery, documents or anything else. Also taking cues from tradition is Studio Job’s ‘altdeutsche cabinet’ manufactured by moooi. Here, the cupboard takes on traditional forms, but is painted with colourful, tongue-in-cheek motifs.
Kerstin Olby’s ‘Emma display cabinet’ is a larger, more serious affair with glazed doors, while Ferruccio Laviani’s ‘F* Buffet’, manufactured by F.LLi BOFFI is a minimal cupboard, covered either in patterned fabric or mirror surface, which stands on ornate, gold leaf-covered baroque legs. The choice in the modern corner is no less varied. Fritz Haller’s and Paul Schrärer’s seminal, 1965 ‘USM Modular Furniture Haller’, a widely adaptable kit, consisting of steel skeleton and infill panels of engineered wood or glass, it can be assembled into a large variety of cupboards, sideboards, shelves and display cabinets, and can also serve as a room divider.
The sleek ‘S 07’, designed for interlubke by Rolf Heide and Peter Kräling, is a similarly versatile cupboard system, with hinged, sliding, or no doors, and is suited to furnishing bedrooms, living spaces, offices or walk-in cupboards. Peter J. Lassen’s ‘GRID wardrobe’, produced by GRID, is an open, steel skeleton cupboard, which rests on a module of closed compartments.
Another innovative design is BassamFellows’s ‘Wall Drawers’, where wholly independent drawers are mounted on a wall, one above the other. The space between them is used as shelf storage. Another design which plays with drawers is Bisazza’s Nendo-designed ‘The Nendo Collection 09’, where a haphazard collection of drawers refuses to be bound together by a slender steel frame.
And while Rüttimann’s ‘Arbolone’ is a wide, mirror-fronted cupboard with sliding doors that optically enlarges and brightens up the space, Boca do lobo’s ‘Millionaire’ cupboard, a polished, brass safe that looks like someone was trying to break in, has no intention of blending in with its surroundings.
