Gizmodo: shelf

Shelves for Life: Even Death Won't Do You Part

Andi Wang — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 23:20:13 EDT

Designed to make "stronger emotional relationships with our belongings," Shelves for Life is a bookcase-slash-coffin that holds your personal possessions in life and your person—corpse—in death.

These plywood, floor-standing shelves are meant to be self-assembled, which makes us wonder: How can you reassemble your shelf to resemble your coffin if you're already dead? Ideal for psychics and vampires only, if you're mortal and boring, make sure your will specifically states that the shelf is to go with you—not for $5 at a garage sale. [Shelves for Life via Like Cool]

iShelf Brings Cover Flow to Real Life, Makes Profound Statement About Something or Other

John Herrman — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 07:59:12 EST

Designer Li Jianye's real-life Cover Flow shelf is just like the actual Cover Flow, except for the fact that it can't move, only holds five albums and doesn't let you play music.

In other worlds, it's better to view the iShelf as an artistic statement about digital music or interface usability, or something, because that's pretty much what it is. It's still in concept limbo at the moment, but even if it doesn't ever see production the concept is good—it wouldn't be that hard to make your own iShelf with room for seven, nine, or—YES—eleven(ELEVEN!) albums. Or you could just not worry about it. [Yanko via Crave]

Transformer Shelf Hides Your Stuff, Fauns In Its Puzzling Pockets

Kit Eaton — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:20:05 EST

This is not, quite, a Japanese puzzle box: But it is a transforming storage unit that has so many sliding, slotting, complex inner drawers, pockets and shelves that it comes close to being a puzzle. Designed by Martin Sammer, Transformer Shelf is just a solid shelving unit when "closed," but sliding it open reveals its labyrinthine innards, intended so that you can configure it however you want, and jamming lots of storage options into one unit. Somewhere in there there's an entrance to Narnia...I just know it. [Martinsaemmer via Tuvie]

StairCASE's Bottom Shelves Keep Highest Books in Reach

Elaine Chow — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:30:00 EDT

It's no surprise that a dude who lives in a city of 18 million people would appreciate the need to conserve space. Shanghai-based artist Danny Kuo created the StairCASE, a bookcase where the shelves slide out to become a stairwell. We've seen the amalgamation of shelves and stairs before in London, but StairCASE can be put just about anywhere. The design lets you have a much taller bookshelf (most top out at roughly six feet to accommodate human height), or functions as a way to reach a lofted area for sleeping or storage. I could've used something like this in New York. [Danny Kuo via Craziest Gadgets]

Crummy Old Skis Make for Fancy New Media Shelf

Mark Wilson — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:15:00 EDT

It's rare that we come across a DIY project that we both: a) want to complete and b) feasibly could complete. But this project takes a used pair of wooden cross country skis and through the magic of just two brackets and a few screws, creates a media shelf with some pizazz. Plus, just spit-balling here, you could attach another set of skis inverted below the first set to create a gnarly wave effect. [Five Whys via Curbly]

Giant LED Clock Stores CDs, Gets You Back to the '80s

Jesus Diaz — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:11:20 EDT

Ooooh. Shelves. And red LEDs. They tell time. They store CDs. Who has CDs? Not me. But I don't care. It's a giant digital clock. Red over black, baby. 1980s, here I come again. Now I just need to rescue my white suit, tight pink T-shirt, and call Tubbs to pick me up in the Ferrari.

Unfortunately, they are not for sale in the US or anywhere else. [Technabob]

The WaSnake Shelf: It's Like a Personal Assistant That is Nailed to Your Wall

Sean Fallon — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:30:00 EDT

The WaSnake shelf concept by designer Jean Louis Frechin not only holds your stuff, it also features connectivity that allows it to display news from chosen RSS feeds and even SMS messages. Plus, the whole unit is highly configurable so you could find a spot for it on nearly any wall in your home.

All in all, I love the idea of packing more functionality into everyday objects, but I can't say that I agree with the artist's description of a "discreet," visual experience. There is nothing discreet about my naughty text messages being broadcast to everyone in the room. At any rate, it seems that the WaSnake will remain a concept for the time being. [Newlaunches]

Stairs Bookcase Actually Makes Me Want to Move to London

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:20:52 EST

Here's a great idea for anyone who loves books and doesn't have enough apartment space or a Kindle: a "secret staircase" made of English oak, lined with books left, right and center, leading to a loft bedroom in a Victorian 1898 apartments block.

The 70m2 apartment was remodeled by London-based Levitate Architects, who created "a new bedroom level and increasing the floor area of the flat by approximately one third." The staircase is both the way to access the bedroom and a perfect place to store books, movies or CDs. "With a skylight above lighting the staircase, it becomes the perfect place to stop and browse a tome," says Levitate's Tim Sloan, who also pointed out the unique structure of each step, allowing for anyone to comfortably sit down while picking a book. [Apartment Therapy via Boing Boing]

Invisible Book Shelf Gets Cheaper

Jason Chen — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 13:55:57 EST

We wrote about this a long, long time ago, but the invisible bookshelf that magically props up your reading material is now available from ThinkGeek at $12.99—ten bucks cheaper than it was before. [ThinkGeek]

How to Build a Tetris Shelf

Jason Chen — Wed, 30 May 2007 15:00:08 EDT

We've shown you those Tetris shelves a couple times over the years now, but they're still really, really expensive to the point where you'd have to live inside it in lieu of an actual apartment. Here's how you can build your own on the cheap.

Instructables' guide to building your own Tetris shelves costs you only about $85 in wood ($200+ if you buy good wood), plus some more in parts. You'll need equipment like table saws and wood glue, so if you don't have that you might have to find a buddy who does. Just be careful not to line them up horizontally or else you're going to have to start all over. – Jason Chen

Project Page [Instructables]

DIY Gadget Charging Station

Travis Hudson — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 18:15:25 EDT

Sick of the cable clutter surrounding your gadget charging area? This is a fairly simple way to eliminate the cord clutter. Just pick up a couple of wooden blocks like seen above or any other apparatus that can be attached to the wall and have cords wrapped around. Wrap the cords creating a shelf and plug'er in. As long as you aren't trying to charge and hold a brick, the weaved cords should hold the device easily. –Travis Hudson

Battery Shelf [MAKE]

Design Concept: Illume Display Shelf

Charlie White — Tue, 25 Jul 2006 11:12:41 EDT

Chris Owens, an enterprising design student from North Carolina State University, created a shelf that's lit from beneath by LEDs. Pressure-sensitive switches embedded in the shelf turn on those lights when you place an object on them. Take a look at the video to see the design prototype in action.

Wouldn't this be great to have a bar made of these pressure-sensitive lights? The bartender puts your drink in front of you and the bar lights up. Neat. – Charlie White

Illume - LED Display Shelf [Tech E Blog]

Drip Shelf

gizmodo.com — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 13:23:39 EDT

The red version of the Drip Shelf would probably look more sinister than whimsical against a dark wall instead of a light one, but we think it's fun anyway. It's available in white as well, but we'd like to get the black one and put it up on a black wall, the better to match our soul.

Products - Drip and Puddle [Susan Bradley, via Design Spotter]

Mood Light Shelf

Charlie White — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 08:32:43 EDT

Mount this Mood Light Shelf from Generate Design vertically or horizontally and be dazzled by millions of colors that you can control with an RF remote. With ultra-bright LEDs inside, it's the newest member of the Mood Light collection. Available now for $229.

Product page Thanks, Michael!