EX LIBRIS|Libreria

EX LIBRIS|Libreria

TArt, 2014

EX LIBRIS is a centrepiece tower shelf to be kept away from the walls, as it is physically and visually usable on all four of its elevations. In fact, this is precisely - in addition to the modularity of its composition - the idea that generated it: being able to have an object of limited size, yet capacious, intended to conserve, contain, guard and accommodate books, objects and memories of various kinds, which would be accessible from all sides and configurable in different ways.

The containers, all identical to themselves and, therefore, identifiable as a basic module, are each made from a single iron sheet cut, folded and welded, and then stacked one on top of the other, according to users’ wishes and needs (in the samples here shown a 90° rotation was adopted at each change in height), within a prismatic volume defined solely by a slender square-section metal profile (to which the containers are anchored) which traces its edges and vertices. Each part of the bookcase retains the calamine patina, which comes to the iron from the passage through the blast furnace, and is finished with natural wax.

The external faces of the modules combine with each other, giving rise to height jumps or further shelves and open volumes to be used in total freedom, to contain, store and display objects of affection and whatsoever. The bookcase, thus, takes on the connotation of a domestic totem, a focal point and friendly presence in the environment, around which one can move freely and which can be accessed from every side, without recurring to ladders or stools help.

Once configured according to the user’s needs, each tower can, obviously, be combined with another and can thus originate a wall or an equipped partition, in a further extension of the concept of modularity that inspires its construction. In a further version of this bookcase the box-shaped containers are covered in leather, both externally and internally.