Designed for String Furniture by the Swedish TAF Studio, the Museum shelf has got company from a matching side table that, like the shelf, can be used for a variety of purposes. Find out what TAF Studio’s Mattias Ståhlblom and Gabriella Gustafson would use the new table for!
THE MUSEUM COLLECTION, designed by TAF Studio for String Furniture, has thus far consisted of robust shelves in beige, white, and aluminum. This fall, the series has expanded not only with novel hues but also a completely new product: the Museum side table. The small multifunctional side table carries the same industrial design language as the original shelf which was designed for the restaurant of Sweden’s Nationalmuseum as part of the museum’s grand renovation project.
In the restaurant & café, the Museum shelves have been given the task of showcasing the museum’s impressive bust collection, and that was actually the original idea behind the shelves. “The brief from the client was extremely free and open-minded,” say TAF Studio’s Mattias Ståhlblom and Gabriella Gustafson. “It gave us the possibilities to work without borders between craft, industrial design, and interior architecture.”
The designers got the idea for expanding the Museum collection by simply observing that there might be a need for a compact side table whose height could be adjusted. Just like the Museum shelf, the side table is also based on the idea of displaying art or other objects. “It can be used to carry and maybe highlight everyday objects in the same way a podium or a pedestal at a museum does,” the designers note.
Created in close collaboration with String Furniture, the table was first introduced in spring 2020 at Stockholm Design Week, in an exhibition held at the Svenskt Tenn boutique, as a stand for flower vases.
“We use the side table at the office, a little bit here and there, as an extra table,” the designers say. “But one of our favorite ways to use it, still, is for flowers. It creates a nice soft contrast to the metal and the table’s industrial expression.”
See also:
• String Furniture's Museum side table >
• TAF Studio's designs >
Text: Emmi Ratilainen Images: String Furniture