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The Piano Shelf, by Chilean designer Sebastian Errazuriz, is a piece that blurs the lines between decorative design and useful multifunctional furniture.
The piece features a row of up to 60 wooden piano key-shaped blocks, set on a frame attached to the wall. Made exclusively on request, the piece takes several months to manufacture.
The ‘keys’ can be lowered or raised according to the user’s needs – if all keys are raised, the piece becomes an interesting and stylish wall feature. When lowered, the piece can be used as a bookshelf or to hold all manner of other items.
Each key has to be ‘tuned’ individually, with the insertion of a special hidden screw to ensure the key lowers only to the right level – no higher and no lower – or else, the shelf would not be useable.
Errazuriz wrote of the design that he sought to make people “question their mortality, invite them to look again at their lives and question their daily routines.”
While he may not have achieved quite that with this particular piece, he has succeeded in creating a conversation starter with a multifunctional but stylish theme. Piano Shelf is pure storage eye candy, an item that belongs right in the wall-mounted shelving systems hall of fame.
The piece was originally designed in 1997 but first showcased only in 2007 at the Art Basel Design Show. More info at the Sebastian Studio.
