Each week we showcase a design product we love, something that we think would fit perfectly within our dream IO Kids’ room – alongside our IO Bunk Pod and IO Doodle Box, of course!
We were careful to include lots of shelving when designing our Bunk Pod but shelving is something you can simply never have too much of – especially where children are concerned. Their love of objects and possessions is intrinsic to their sense of identity and self – hugely important as they grow and evolve. Who’s going to insist on such things being shoveled away in a cupboard?
It’s no secret by now that something we love at IO Kids is a design that effortlessly combines functionality with good looks. We want the objects that inhabit our rooms, and the rooms of our children, to be as fabulous as the things that exist on, in and around them. Which is why we love the Ray Shelf system, an innovative design concept from Italian architect and designer Matteo Gerbi. Thanks to its unique system of supports and bars, it ensures that the shelving itself becomes just as much a feature of the room as the objects placed on it – and, far from minimising the look or visibility of the supports, Ray Shelf makes a feature of them by realising them in bright, bold, geometric shapes (more muted, traditional colourways are also available)
You’ll also know by now that we love designs that give scope to endless configurations and that embody a sense of fun and creativity; where you can, to some extent, be the master of your own design. The Ray Shelf gives scope for a multitude of arrangements, meaning that you can change the look of your walls and the way in which your objects are displayed without the need to buy new products.
We must confess that we also love the inspiration for the shelving system, which is mirrored in its name: comprised of aluminum bars inserted through steel supports, the system forms a visual representation of rays of light passing through a surface and linking together forms of different shapes and colours. Who doesn’t need a ray of light – or several – in their room?
