Imbalance – are we all feeling a little off balance?  The world has gone a bit out of sync, a little bit wonky and so have some designs.There’s perfection in imperfection. Proportions are twisted , bent and stretched. Here’s a few examples of this imbalanced imperfect world.

 Peter Marigold Split Box Shelves. The boxes use a single piece of wood split into four as the corner supports the cut pieces that form the box are not calculated. The angles on the inside of each shelf always add up to 360 degrees, this along with the irregular cut pieces result in an irregular shape.  Each box is produced in the same way, the angles can be interchanged and shelf sides of different lengths creating a build up of unique boxes always applying the same principle.  

http://www.petermarigold.com/split2.htm

 Roy McMakin’s untitled piece for Established and Son. Amazing workmanship on a shaker style dresser. I imagine its rather like a concert pianist deliberately playing a tune out of key,  it seems simple but its incredibly hard to do. That’s the way I think of this piece. It looks so simple but to get the sizing of the draws and the miss matching draw pulls looking great rather than a mess is a lot harder than it looks.

Nicolas Bovesse’s collection “basculements” (”switches”)is a result of his fascination with ideas of balance or equilibrium. The concept of switching comes from the way in which the pieces switch from unstable to stable. The coatstand Mikado is constructed of simple pieces of wood that are fixed together to form a stable functional piece. Other pieces in the collection include a mirror that appears to have slipped and a table that although level on top has a random construction underneath.

http://www.nicolasbovesse.be/

 Hannes Grebin’s Ohrensessel Chair. Hannes wanted to rethink the traditional but still keeping the comfort and familiarity we associate with traditional chairs – hence the choice of upholstery and the doily and even the fringe around the base.

 www.grebin.de

Ulrik Stool by Alex Hellum for SCP. A gentle tweak to a simple stool, the angle of the base gives a little lift and support to your derriere. The design brief from SCP was for a piece of furniture that could be easily carried home by the customer.   

http://www.alexhellum.com/