Stick Insects: Create Your Own Furniture with Basic Components

Have you ever fancied yourself a furniture designer, but lack the skills required to actually make anything? Many of us have found ourselves wishing we could custom-create the perfect item of furniture or lamp for a particular task that fits perfectly into a certain space or is just the right size and height.

Polish designer Jan Godlewski offers a solution in the form of ‘Stick Insects,’ a set of modular elements that can be used to construct furniture of all sorts. Flat surfaces, sticks and metal connectors fit together in virtually endless ways.

The ash wood slats are refreshingly simple and clean-lined, available in various lengths to make anything from a small table that can sidle up to a couch to a towering bookshelf. The three examples produced by the designer are just the beginning of the possibilities.

Godlewski is also known for ‘Ply,’ a similar concept that eliminates connectors altogether. Inspired by aircraft plywood construction from the World War I era, this set is simple and humble, yet durable.