3-Piece Transforming Furniture Set
Dubbed Maisonette (Little Home), this series by Italian furniture and product designer Simone Simoncelli contains three pieces of minimalist furniture each with a dual function for small-space living.
The small table turns into a serving or eating tray, the trolley doubles as a container and the bookshelf also features a clothing hanger. The latter two, in particular, take advantage of vertical possibilities to double their usefulness per unit of space occupied.
The pieces are constructed from iron rods and naturally-finished adler wood – minimal but well-constructed materials for simplicity and durability. Simone’s portfolio also spans chairs, lighting, signage and more.
“What I am learning it is to be obstinate,” Simonelli says in an interview with Yatzer. “I am sure that in order to be a designer today you need to be obstinate, never give up, I think this is the only rule. Then it is very important the experimentation. If you don’t do experiments, like for prototypes, videos, research, it is becoming really difficult. And this is also the main difficulty that you have when you are a young designer: the opportunity to invest time and resources in prototypes and experiments.”
“I am pretty sure of that, ordinary things are a great source of inspiration! I recommend you a really nice book I came up a couple of years ago in Italy called ‘Design Anonimo’, a book that is a gallery of objects without names, objects that are with us everyday, simple things that we probably use without even noticing it, “supernormal” objects as Fukasawa & Morrison name them. Personally, I get a lot of inspiration from ‘visual’ culture. It is more probable that a new idea comes to me from a photo seen on Flickr than from a formal gesture. I think visual language has a main influence in my life.”
