TAPPING INTO WALL POWER

Making the most of available space, and climbing the walls in the process

If a design doesn’t function well, then it is not a good design — no matter how cool it looks.

GLENN ROS S

It seems nearly instinctive to plaster our walls with pictures in an attempt to make them a little less dull. It’s true that artwork can improve these plain surfaces, but if you’ve moved into a condo, you’re likely short on space and looking for creative ways to make room. Nothing frees up floors like putting stuff on the walls instead, and if you choose the right items, your space-saving strategies could be conversation starters.

Let’s start with bikes: Montrealers love using them, but hate storing them.

Chrome, a Latvian design firm, found an indoor solution that’s both sleek and practical. Built with sturdy, stunning Baltic birch, Chrome’s discreet Fixa Bike Shelf fittingly hangs your bike on the wall, at any height you choose, while also letting you place objects on top.

“I am a designer and a regular cyclist, living in a small apartment,” said Chrome’s Maksims Sadurskis in an interview by email.

“I was inspired by the Japanese, because they’re a nation of minimalists, achieving big results in tiny spaces.”

Speaking of tiny spaces, your diminutive digs may not include an office, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a decent workspace.

The Camille Wall Desk, designed and handcrafted by Glenn Ross in Coquitlam, B.C., is a “kinetic” furnishing that can serve as cabinet or laptop desk.

It’s beautiful when it’s closed, and useful when it’s not.

“If a design doesn’t function well, then it is not a good design — no matter how cool it looks,” Ross said.

“The desk materialized as a densely programmed home for all the little things that are always laying around.

“It’s great to be able to close all that stuff away.

“When the desk is closed, it becomes almost sculptural in appearance,” he added.

“I have an obsession with built-in and wall-mounted pieces; they’re little pieces of interior architecture.”

Similarly, the Chuck Shelf, designed by Natascha Harra-Frischkorn in Germany, rejects the notion that shelves have to appear and function in a specific, static way.

Consisting of six flexible wood slats and secured with steel locking collars on each end, every time you place an item between the planks, the look of the shelf changes, making it a dynamic installation. Esthetically, it’s shaped like a leaf, so it becomes decorative as well.

“The concept for the Chuck was built out of a truly free study of new ways to use intermediate space,” Harra-Frischkorn said. “The Chuck is more like a useful sculpture, or an art object, than a normal shelf. The user determines how it has to look.”

The T.Shelf, designed by Jae Won Cho from his Los Angeles-based J1 Studio, also gives you complete control over how it’s laid out.

Drawing inspiration from origami, the modular plywood shelves come in several sizes, and each triangular unit is secured to the next using zip ties.

It’s great for corners, which are a good way to avoid taking up too much wall.

If you’re so inclined, play with the shape by going serpentine or symmetrical.

For something else that’s both creative and constructive, colourful wall hooks by Tina Frey Designs can be arranged to turn your wall into an exposed, polka-dotted closet. These hand-sculpted knobs are great for hanging coats and other garments — or use them in the kitchen for utensils and cooking accessories.

Wall-mounted mirrors are often

used to make a space look bigger. The Egg mirror by Dutch design house RiZZ takes that idea and makes it sing for its supper. The oval-shaped mirror is latched atop a key cabinet of the same shape; swiveling the mirror to the right or left opens the cabinet. Otherwise, the keys are hidden.

RiZZ specializes in products for the entryway, from bespoke doormats to hooks and coat racks.

“The entrance is often a part of

the house that is neglected, while we think it is one of the most important areas,” said Sebastiaan Zuiddam, commercial director at RiZZ. “Teun Fleskens, a young Dutch designer, took up the task to make a complete collection of entrance products in one design language, that improves the daily functions of the entrance. The Egg mirror is a perfect example!”

And just like that, the walls are anything but dull.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF GLENN ROSS, VURV DESIGN The Camille Wall Desk, designed and handcrafted by a British Columbia craftsman, looks like a wall sculpture when closed. But open it, and it becomes a useful piece of furnishing that serves as a cabinet or desk.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CHROME LTD. Built of sturdy and attractive Baltic birch, the Fixa Bike Shelf created by Chrome, a Latvian design firm, will not only let you hang a bicycle on the wall at whatever height suits you, but also serves as a small shelf to hold a variety of items.

PHOTO COURTESY OF J1 STUDIO The T.Shelf — a series of modular plywood shelves in various sizes, attached to each other with zip ties — can be arranged any way you see fit.

PHOTOS BY LEOPOLD FIALA The Chuck Shelf, designed by Natascha Harra-Frischkorn in Germany, consists of flexible wood slats secured to the wall with steel locking collars on each end. Depending how things are placed on the shelf, its look changes dramatically.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TINA FREY DESIGNS Colourful hand-sculpted knobs attached to a wall are practical as well as decorative.