Bookshape, wall version

Book container whose shape is defined by the books, because the original idea was that the content had to give shape to its container.
Davide Radaelli

Rek 2.0

More than four years after we designed and created the very first REK bookcase for a private client, we have taken a few significant steps forward. REK has a new finish, is much lighter and we have made some great photos of it.

What are books worth when there is internet, smart phones, tablets and e-readers? Not much at first sight. However, it is exactly these digital developments that enhance the appreciation of books. No longer functional carriers of information but rather artefacts representing one’s identity. It is not so much about the quantity of books anymore but what counts is a well-considered selection of quality books. Book shelves are therefore changing as well, from purely functional pieces of furniture to unique design pieces, equally important as the books they hold.

REK was designed back in 2008 by Reinier de Jong as a bookcase that grows with your book collection. The fewer the books, the smaller the bookcase. The zigzag-shaped parts slide in and out to accommodate books in the resulting spaces. The books can also be arranged according to their size. The narrow spaces are excellent for magazines.

The maximum dimensions of REK are: 202 x 228 x 36 cm. The original REK bookcase is finished with white HPL which gives it a cool and abstract look.

We recently introduced a new finish at the International Furniture Fair in Cologne: recycled HPL by Abet Laminati. The solid grey material creates a warm and intriguing result, especially on the edges where it looks as if it is seamlessly folded around the shelves. It is light grey with a texture that people associate with fine concrete or grey cardboard. REK is also available in a dark grey version of this material.

Furthermore, the new REK has lost weight. It has the same dimensions as the first one but weighs only 80 kg. A lot easier to transport but above all, easier to slide. We have also improved the guidance and added a stop, making sure the parts do not slide out too far.
Reinier de Jong Architecture & Design

The Books Shelf

A typographic bookshelf designed to hold just those books you go back to over and over. With counters of various sizes for novels, magazines and art books, it is the perfect bookshelf for typographic obsessives. Now you can spend your Sunday afternoons endlessly kerning your furniture.
Concept, type design & production: Matt Innes
Design & production: Saori Kajiwara
CNC router cut, hand glued & finished in Scandinavian oil & beeswax.600 x 250 x 190mm per character. Jarrah-faced birch plywood
Australian Infront

Mandala bookshelf

Veronica, Apartment Therapy

Heavy Rabbit

Each of the 31 steel elements is hand bended and welded together into a structural form with storage capabilities.Approximate Dimensions: 56 x 50 x 25 cm. High quality steel rods, diameter 8 mm. Weight, 18 kg. Colour versions are quality powder coated.
Bongo Design

Acceptable

The first piece of a parasite furniture collection. Inspired by virtuality, notably graphical errors and computer game bugs, I took a regular, old, four-leg coffee table and, while retaining its original function, provided it with a new one: a bookshelf. The philosophy of the emerging parasite furniture collection is giving new use to old furniture by distorting it with visual errors. Photos by Éva Szombat.

Akos Hajdok

Catcase

Bookcase and Cat tree in one. Would you like to get your Cat a cat tree but don’t like the traditional ones? This is why we designed the CatCase. With the CatCase neither you nor your Cat will have to compromise because it combines a bookcase and a cat tree in one. It stores books, dvds etc. while at the same time being the ideal playground for your Cat.

Inside the CatCase your Cat can sleep or jump like on a stairs from shelf to shelf in order to finally reach the top level from where it has a great and comfortable lookout. Cats feel best high up with a clear view in all directions; this is exactly what the CatCase offers. At the same time, your books are completely safe because the shelves containing them are protected by a back wall. The shelves which are used to jump up, cannot be used to store books, but they do contain a fitted carpet so that your Cat can sharpen its nails on the way up or down!

Urban Cat Design

Book chair

This chair was designed to remove the excess bulk and 3-dimensional footprint out of a traditional arm chair. The chair, by itself, is a perfect accent to nearly any environment you could place it in. Whether it’s filled with water bottles and towels for a health club or spa, or filled with books for a lobby or library reading area, the chair can blend seamlessly into the surrounding decor. It was constructed from 618 individually cut pieces of Baltic Birch plywood, and upholstered in vinyl. The pieces were designed on a computer to be cut out via CNC so that they would each be identical, to ensure the seamless joints would accommodate the stress-load of everyday use. Judson Beaumont, Straight Line Designs

Etagère “ARRANGEMENT EN BOIS"

La profondeur de l'étagère est déterminée par le nombre de lattes utilisées. De ce fait, il est possible de modifier la largeur de l’ensemble en ajoutant ou en enlevant des lattes. Un certain nombre des lattes s'ajoutent de manière plus flexible dans la structure primaire d’ensemble – ces lattes constituent des “montants” dont l'orientation/inclinaison peut être fixée librement. Matériaux – lattes de contre-plaqué, tiges filetées, écrous, rondelles.
Maia Tuur

The curious rise of bibliographics

What does the proliferation of sites, books, and blogs celebrating images of books say about our relationship with the printed word?...  there is no question that representations of books are capturing the imaginations of many.
Read the rest at The College Store magazine

Bookcases in illuminated medieval manuscripts

Valerius Maximus, translated by Simon de Hesdin and Nicholas de Gonesse, Facta et dicta memorabilia. Netherlands, S. (Bruges); 1479. Miniature of the translator, Simon de Hesdin, at work in his study, with an inscription on the wall reading, 'Je suis bien / Toudis Joieulx', and a date '1479' with words 'de anno' inscribed on a scroll pending from a bookshelf; with a full border containing the royal arms of England on two banners held by angels, and on a shield surrounded by the Garter with the motto 'Honny soit qui mal y pense', and surmounted by a crowned helm with a mantling in Edward IV's colours of red and blue and a crest of a white lion, with two other shields bearing the same arms for Edward's sons, and the York badge of white rose-en-soleil with the motto 'Dieu est mon droit'; and a foliate initial 'L'(a brieste), at the beginning of book 1.

British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts

Safo Sofa

Baita Design

Reading Circle

Poughkeepsie Day School

Don't Burn Your Books - Print Is Here to Stay

The initial e-book explosion is starting to look like an aberration. The technology's early adopters, a small but enthusiastic bunch, made the move to e-books quickly and in a concentrated period. Further converts will be harder to come by. A 2012 survey by Bowker Market Research revealed that just 16% of Americans have actually purchased an e-book and that a whopping 59% say they have "no interest" in buying one... Having survived 500 years of technological upheaval, Gutenberg's invention may withstand the digital onslaught as well. There's something about a crisply printed, tightly bound book that we don't seem eager to let go of.

The Wall Street Journal

Ray shelf

An adjustable and versatile wall mounted shelving system for storing books and whatever you like. The primary feature of this design is to provide users with the freedom to arrange their own individual space creating different design combinations. Matteo Gerbi

Bicicloteca

Um livro pode mudar a sua vida. A “Bicicloteca” é uma biblioteca itinerante, um movimento independente existente em diversas comunidades brasileiras e em outros países, geralmente para pessoas sem acesso a biblioteca ou comunidades distantes dos centros, as quais utilizam a bicicleta como veículo para o transporte de livros. A Bicicloteca do Instituto Mobilidade Verde foi desenvolvida para atender moradores de rua através do Movimento Estadual da População em Situação de Rua. Trata-se de um triciclo com capacidade para 150 kg de livros que facilita o trânsito na cidade e o acesso de pessoas a cultura , o objetivo é facilitar o trabalho das comunidades que já atuam com cultura e inclusão social através da leitura.

Bicicloteca

WordWall

Each book would have the side opposite from the spine gripped by some clips as shown. Each clip would have a magnet bonded onto it (grey) so that books could be attached to and easily detached from a steel wall plate. This allows books to be placed where you like, aligned or misaligned as required. Imagine a collection of intersecting regions drawn in pencil on the plate. This Venn diagram would allow each book to be categorised as say SF, by Clarke and 20th Century. Each of the magnets might take the form of a small motorised cart which would allow the books to be moved around automatically to spell printed words or act as pixels in a book spine scene. Patrick Andrews

Book house

Cité du Livre

Cité du Livre is a meeting place for all forms of artistic expression. Built around the rich heritage foundations of the Méjanes library (the Marquis of Méjanes left a collection of 80,000 volumes when he died in 1786). Cité du Livre, in association with the Saint John Perse Foundation and the Institute of Image and the "Tous Courts" Festival, organise seminars, meetings and theme exhibitions: Ecritures Croisées, Fête du Livre, Livre en fête. It also houses an international video library of Lyric Art, created in 1991. Since 1996 it has hosted the Prejlocaj Ballet. Cité du Livre

Louis Vuitton’s bookcase trunk