Materials: cast rubber + machined aluminum
Price Point: $120
"Inspired by the potential of 3D design to incite playful curiosity and imaginative pause, the s t r e t c h shelf expands the function of the ordinary rubberband. The s t r e t c h shelf has a 10" diameter and can be stretched to a variety of shapes..."
Designer: Pete Oyler
Link: NA
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Previous Design:
Planted Bench by Jessica Carter
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• About Design Showcase 2009: This summer we're celebrating the best in design for the home. We're taking submissions from independent and student designers from around the world and letting our readers vote on who they think has the best design. There's also a panel of august judges. Two winners will win $20,000 in targeted advertising placements on our sites to help launch their career. All info is here.





Comments (21)
It's rather cool...
...but I can just see folks having trouble with installing this and ending up w/ multiple holes in the wall because the mounts were too far apart for the stretchy thing to fit.
Love rubber furniture. These remind me of these other rubber shelves http://tiny.cc/aSKgN
Cool design: three stars.
Really? You guys like this? Maybe as a purely decorative element, but not for functionality....
I think that these design surveys should have a zero star option for things that we think really really ... suck. (Not that this particular one is quite that bad, it's probably a one. But some previous ones have definitely been zeroes.)
Not viable for long-term use in any city with a smog problem. Smog eats rubber. I do not want to see what that thing would look like three or four years down the line: cracked, gooey, and filthy, I bet.
I'm imagining installation problems as well. Like accidentally spacing the pegs slightly too far apart, struggling to stretch the rubber band over them, then having it go flying across the room, etc.
Hm. If it came with some diagrams for suggested configurations, that could help with the installation problem, though you'd still be on your own if you didn't want to use any of those configurations. Like others said, it would be a pain to put in the posts and then realize that the band has too much slack or won't fit on the posts at all.
I can't really see using these outside of an office or kid's room (or dorm room), but it's an interesting design, and I like it.
I'm unsure how I really like this. In concept it's great, but seeing it I feel that it is lacking something... sorry I can't be more informative than that.
However, to address the hole issues... like insanity_pepper suggested it could come with some configurations printed on a piece of paper that you can put up and mark directly on the wall. And a simple piece of string the length of the inner circumference of the "shelf" is all you need to check your own custom placements to see if they will fit prior to making any holes... that one's easy!
form follows function. this is the opposite. lame
lovely colors and i <3 aluminum
Come on people! We all know how to hang a picture, we can handle this...simple design, simple installation! Love the colors, can't wait to get some for my kid's room. Fun, fun, fun!
$ 120 to get a couple of books up on the wall?
:-/
i do not find it very practical, either, nor particularly interesting. :-D
sorry …
Move over "hello block" guy, we have a new designer hottie in town. Regardless, the design only gets one star. Eh, yeah, just "Eh".
Is there an actual prototype? Looks like these images are all renderings. Wouldn't the tension on the posts pull the aluminum rods right out of the drywall? You would have to anchor these in studs, and that means wider spans of unsupported rubber which would probably sag... a lot. I think it's a sham. Not to mention, what could a shelf that small possibly accommodate? You would have to buy like 20 of them to actually have useful shelf space, and that would be way, WAY, expensive.
garybobary, that's exactly what I was thinking. imo, they're pretty boring looking too.
i'm a fan. visually interesting and playful. and i'm pretty sure that's the point.
This rubber is loose as a goose!
these shelves are totally rad. what a fun, simple design to add some spirit and dimension to your walls. they seem pretty straight forward to install, so i don't know why people are hating for no good reason. i decree three shining stars:)
definitely not renderings guys.
i'm really impressed by the idea, but i would never actually spend the money. i also don't like how tiny they are, and i hate drilling holes in my walls. really neat idea, but i would never use them.