New Furniture Collection Solves Our Spatially-Challenged Living Arrangements
Most New Yorkers are more than familiar with the trials and tribulations posed by our spatially-challenged living arrangements. However, with every one of life’s obstacles, there’s a potential opportunity waiting just under the surface. That’s exactly what Parisian designer Gilles Belley intended to uncover when he was awarded a grant from VIA, a French organization promoting local design. With funding in hand, Gilles set out to research and develop furniture that would address the needs of modern city living. His solution includes a collection of three pieces formally titled “Rooms,” which includes AREA, WALL and BLOCK, each designed to provide more flexibility for how we function in and define our living spaces.
Since city dwellers tend to move every few years, it can be challenging to find furniture that will work in a variety of spaces. This is another issue Belley set out to address. Instead of making fixed pieces his designs are free-standing structures that are both adaptable and moveable.
The collection provides users with easy-to-implement design solutions for common problems. For example, a temporary room divider is used as a “wall” instead of building an actual wall. WALL comes complete with reconfigurable shelves and a built-in desk.
BLOCK features a staircase-ladder on one side and a writing desk on the other. Both parts come together to create the supporting structure for the narrow bed located at the top–a perfect solution for an empty loft space.
As the designer explains, “The idea is to condense the scale of furnishing to incorporate modes of function that overlap from one room to several rooms—putting living space into the furniture.”
See more work from Gilles Belley here.
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