This Modern Side Table Holds Your Books in an Awesomely Unique Way
Any book lovers out there know just how hard it can be to find enough places to store all your favorites. One imaginative furniture designer has created an ingenious side table that not only provides storage for an entire book collection, but also adds a quirky “wow” factor.
German designer Deniz Aktay took a cylindrical wooden side table and carved a deep J-shaped groove into one side to create “Bookgroove” — one large enough to hold roughly two dozen mid-sized books. The visual effect is playful, with the color of the book spines contrasting with the neutral tone of the light wood grain. And it’s still functional as a side table, with plenty of room to set down your glasses, the remote, or a cup of coffee (though not everyone is comfortable with the idea of placing liquids over their favorite reads).
The Bookgroove is not his first foray into the realm of bookshelf furniture. Aktay’s “Booknest” is a vertical shelf with an almond shaped opening, wherein users can stuff a number of books like a squirrel might shove its food into a tree hole. Similarly, his “Plot Twist” resembles a warped version of an old 90s CD storage tower.
Before discovering his passion for furniture design, Aktay studied architecture and urban planning at the University of Stuttgart. After working as an architect for some time, he started making his own furniture in his free time, even entering several furniture design contests. “The more I focused on designing furniture and objects, the more my enthusiasm grew,” he says on his Behance profile.
That enthusiasm eventually became a full-time job for him, and he now has almost 100 different projects posted on Behance. He explains: “Over time I figured out that good design means…finding the right harmony between proportion, material, and functionality. This goes with my demand for simplicity, originality, proper element joining, detailing, and appropriate use of the materials involved. Considering all these aspects, designing a new piece is an interesting challenge every time.”
While the Bookgroove is a novel concept, one concern yet to be answered by the designer is whether the books at the base and curve of the inset would become misshapen over time, or if the books at the bottom could even be removed individually. But maybe that’s missing the point, and form is meant to trump function in this striking design. It’s definitely a head-turning piece, as evidenced by the over 120,000 likes on Aktay’s Instagram handle.
Aktay’s next task is to get enough interest to be able to sign on with manufacturers of his unique pieces. “The biggest challenge is to share your ideas with the public. I met so many nice people, got lovely comments, so much good advice, much encouragement,” Aktay said in an interview with HomeCrux. “I could attract attention from various interesting manufacturers – so my first professional jobs in designing and furniture realization as well as in visualizing them are just getting started.”
Those intrigued by his innovative designs can check out his work on his website and Instagram account.
