I was inevitably going to move out of my apartment. The prospect of needing to lug a big, heavy shelf when I do has put me off the idea of buying one. Ikea shelves were flat packed, easily assembled, but not disassembled, or reassembled as sturdily as the first time. Ultimately, this shelf is designed to counter what we think about furniture, that we don’t have to buy cheap furniture to be thrown away, it doesn’t need to be bulky or heavy, it can come with us wherever we go.

The Tension Shelf is an extension of both my own personal needs as well as continuing the exploration of using material tensile strength to create a new typology of furniture. The shelf (made up of a a combination of steel tubes, shelving inserts, non-stretch tyvek fabric and the structured box) does not use any type of fastners to be assembled, but relies on gravitational energy to generate a strong, study shelf that also disassembles into a flat package. The point of difference here is the ability for the shelf to be assembled and disassembled with minimal wear or affect on the structural integrity of the shelf.

The goal of the entire Tension furniture series is to challenge the normative perspective of furniture, they are big, heavy, and weighing us down from our mobility. These pieces wishes to form a sentimental, emotional, bond with its users, it’s not meant to be thrown away, its compact, its modular, it can stay with you wherever you go.