At first glance, the Nest Shelf looks like an erstwhile pedestrian freestanding shelf, with three rows of rectangular storage sections. It’s nice, but it’s also the kind of thing you’ll see in the corner furniture store – nothing special. At least, that’s the idea, because this unassuming shelf can actually be expanded, doubling its total storage area with a gentle pull on either side.
Designed by Nendo, seeing the shelf in action is like watching something magically double in size. Even better, you can stop midway through the expansion and produce a nine-section shelf, allowing for plenty of possible configurations to match your storage needs.
How does the Nest Shelf achieve this sorcery? Well, the design basically uses a shelf within a shelf, providing cutouts on the main shelf for the second shelf to slide in and out of, which isn’t all that unusual. What’s different is that they used really thin but capable materials, rather than traditional wood, creating the surprising effect. For the vertical sections, they used carbon fiber that’s a mere 3.7 mm thick, while the 4.8 mm horizontal sections are made from two layers of carbon fiber with a honeycomb aramid fiber sandwiched between them, enabling it to support the weight of any books, lamps, clothes, toys, and pig figurines that are placed on the shelves. It measures just 650 mm wide (2.13 feet) with the second shelf slid in and expands to 1,300 mm (4.36 feet) when completely pulled out.
Nendo designed the Nest Shelf as a presentation piece for the 2015 London Design Festival.
