31 Modern And Creative Book Shelves

Rigidity might be given when it comes to the appearance of books, but modern designers have seen to it that this doesn’t dictate the shelves that home them.

More than ever, individualized taste is the deciding bourgeois as  storage space is given free reign to interact with design, individual and environment. Go with the flow and place your book shelves on show.

1. Console Book Shelf:

Reading doesn’t get more comfortable than this. Regardless of where you like to read or study, Stanislav Katz’s Console Book Shelf will keep you engrossed for hours without moving rooms for missing material.

Flanked by two fitted shelves on either side and below it, the reclining part of this unit is as aesthetically appealing as it is functional for reader and book alike.

2. Lago:

When is a bookshelf not a bookshelf? When it’s a letter of the alphabet or a floating square. In short, a Lago invention. Well-known for their fluid, unconventional thinking, Italian masters of innovative furniture design, Daniele Lago and Massimo Bonnetti, have taken their free-thinking brand of expression to new levels with their floating ‘Shelf System’ range.

Called Tangram, the shelf system beautifully combines functionality and flexibility in its mission to create interaction between storage unit and items that are being stored.

By creating the illusion of weightlessness, the designers succeed in giving books as much prominence and appeal as the bookshelves, which come in a range of funky designs and shapes.

3. Bookcase Into a Bed:

A great solution for maximizing space, Karenic Babel’s bookcase-cum-bed promises to expand limited home horizons.

The mattress, which is made of four interlockable pieces, forms the base, which surrounds five storage shelves when put in an upright position on a wall-mounted frame. To form a bed, the mattress pieces are locked together – with two parts for a single, and four for a double.

4. Cave Book Shelf:

Inspired by the spacelessness of modern Asian homes, Sakura Adachi created a womb-like reading room amidst a series of clean-lined shelf systems to keep the connection between reader and book as intimate as possible. Not for giants or those who like a more laissez faire approach to their favorite pastime.

5. Andreas Hegert’s Book Shelf:

A rebel with a cause, Andreas Hegert gives disorder a functional meaning with this squiggly trio of shelves, which range from 40cm to one meter in length. If you’re one of those eclectic readers whose interests range from Tolkien to Hegel, this random collection of shelves will suit your philosophical rhythm.

Pay no attention to the linear structure of walls, floor and ceiling, but mind you don’t cover the light shades, which are made of powder-coated sheet and fitted with LEDs.

6. Good Morning Technology Bookshelf:

A modern take on Scandinavian Shaker simplicity, this Nordic blue and white block effect uses rectangular wood and metal cubbies as both storage and structural support.

An added beauty of the chequered system lies in the fact that the height can be adjusted and books are stacked horizontally or vertically.

7. Bookseat shelf chair:

There’s something to be stated for keeping all your books and magazines in the place that you want to read them, as this all-in-one unit shows.

Rated as one of 10 must-sees at Toronto Interior Design Show, this curvaceous plywood chair-cum-bookshelf doubles up on space and comfort. Available with a felt cushion in colors to suit your taste and environment.

8. Books To Go:

Find you don’t always work in the same part of the home or your  home office is constantly changing dynamics? Rose Cobb’s wheeled unit not only ensures you can move your library with ease, but clamps your books securely on the shelf to ensure you don’t spend your life picking up after yourself. Five stars for functionality.

9. Nar Bookcase:

Another two-dimensional couplet, this metal coffee plateau conceals a one-of-a-kind hanging book shelf beneath its solid exterior. Like ribs beneath a beautiful carcass, the metal plates on which the books are slung by the bindings also serve as bookmarks.

The clean, masculine lines of the unit make for sturdy aesthetics complemented by excellent dust protection.

10. Bookworm Bookshelf:

Designed to twist like a centipede into whatever shape you require, the Bookworm Bookshelf is just that: a firm, flexible, functional animal which needs only books to complete it.

Using extrusion technology, Ron Arad added imagination to a durable product, topped it off with book ends, and came up with an innovative, elastic design to brighten up the most static of environments.

11. Twin Bookshelf:

Representing the two sides of Istanbul, Asian and European, Zeynep Cinisli’s design bridges the gap between design and practice. Using DNA-like strands as shelves between twin cells, the symbolism is all yin and yang.

Pushed apart, the cells are display mirrors of apiece other; pushed together they form a nucleic whole which functions as a surround cabinet. Symbolism at its most functional.

12. Never Ending Bookshelf:

Though it would seem logical to include logic in the making of a practical item like a book shelf, designer Luca Nichetto decided convention was beyond his intent of functionality.

The resultant “Neverending” spyro gyra which he created undoubtedly qualifies as a sculptural work of art, but it is not clear how it works as a carrier of hard-cover books. Vive la difference!

13. Knockdown Bookcase:

A boon for those who like to do it all themselves, Sung Won Park’s flat-pack DIY unit uses no glue, screws, wrenches or even instruction manuals. Modular wood boards, which are same in size, are slotted into grooves in a supporting surround and the rest is up to you. As simple to transport as it is to build.

14. Insert Coin Shelf System:

Vaguely reminiscent of shoe racks which use vertical rather than horizontal stacking, this shelf system uses trays, inserted randomly at different levels on a colorful base, to accommodate just about everything you want on display.

Designed by Nils Holger Moormann, Insert Coin provides potential for just about each look: from higgledy piggledy to extremely straight and narrow.

15. XEL:

Believe that a tidy desk is a sure sign of a sick mind? XEL takes the concept to a new level with its aluminium and glass rendition of ordered chaos which ensures you can pack each size and type of book into one space without looking anal. Use it like talking up a stale room or add contemporary pizzazz to a funky loft.

16. Shelf Concept By Okapi Studio

A versatile solution for those who believe their performance is deeply affected by their environment; Okapi Studio’s bookshelf design ensures boredom is out of the question.

Using lightweight modules that can be customized to everyone’s need, Okapi bends rigid shelf norms just enough to challenge the position quo, but not beyond the ridiculous. After all, it makes perfect sense to mould a shelf to fit the book, doesn’t it?

17. File Tree:

Essentially designed as a modern filing cabinet, Laurie Beckerman’s design is just as suited to books. Fitted with solid shelves emanating like erudite rays from a double diamond shape, her genius lies in its simplicity. Minimalist, functional and aesthetically appealing, this Zen item is a sparkling gem.

18. Split Shelving:

Constructed by slicing a log into four unequal sections and adding a few slats around the side, Peter Marigold’s honeycomb-like surround units wage endless possibilities for adding new honey to the book hive.

Another one is for those who are not crazy about order, but like a geometric slant to their décor. Descriptive rather than prescriptive, Marigold’s tantalizing solution is equally useful for stacking loose paper and other knick-knacks.

19. Flying Vee:

Like winged ducks in various says of flight, the L or V shape of this customizable design makes a versatile way of keeping your books in a row. Each sheet of bent metal provides space for one or more books to be catalogued or hung according to your individualized whim. Fiction or fact? Let the shape of the book shelf dictate.

20. Fly Shelf:

Slick, trim and oh so Italian, this bookshelf system with integrated projection screen will ensure Fellini has as much pride of place as Dante. Keep those aging classics on the shelf and watch old original at the same time. Only those with a projector-based home theatre system need apply.

21. Elastic Bookshelf:

For avid bibliophiles, there can be few things more