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Goodbye bookshelf – hello experimental room dividers

Lifestyle
6 years ago
1 minutes

The beauty of most off-the-plan apartments is their open plan layout which allows you to create free-flowing living areas. But what if you want to define certain areas?

The usual approach is to use your couch or a large furniture piece such as a shelving unit. But designers are looking at more innovative and, frankly, more creative ways of dividing up an open space.

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London designer Philippe Malouin has done just that with his collection of experimental room dividers on show recently at NYCxDesign 2017. Boring bookshelves, these are not.

Using a range of unusual materials, including dyed leather, mesh fabric and foam, these dividers are designed to add a sculptural form to a space in forms that are as artistic as they are functional.

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Speaking to dezeen, Malouin said, “If you want to generate ideas it's a very good idea to start making things out of any available material and try to experiment with as many themes and concepts as you can.”

Malouin created the dividers as a response to a brief from Swedish furniture brand, Hem. And whilst some of his concepts are a little weird – the pink sagging bag over the tubular frame might not be to everyone’s taste – there are some cool ideas here.

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Our particular favourite is the huge green leather beanbag, but perhaps the minimalist curved screen of perforated metal might be a little more practical for a contemporary apartment. Says Malouin, “Reductionism, in a lot of these tryouts, was what I was interested in, making more with as little as possible.”

To explore more of Malouin’s work, check out his website. And to try your own hand at dividing an open plan living area, let your imagination run free.

source: dezeen