Library Essentials
Create the ideal place to curl up with a good book and escape the cold.
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Customize the Visionnaire Genesis modular shelving system by combining various open and closed modules that can be personalized with leather, fabric, wood, marble, or mirror. All modules are equipped with LED lighting. Price upon request, ($60,000 as shown); visionnaire-home.com
The Chara side table provides a sculptural perch for whatever you’re reading. Designed by Rawan Alsahsah, founder and lead designer of US–based Rawan Isaac and the Saudi-based RIS Group architectural firm, it comes with a stone or wood base and blackened steel or brushed brass finish and is customizable. $2,489 (walnut), $2,171 (stone); rawanisaac.com
Every library needs a good reading chair. Dino Armchair, Jaime Hayon’s contemporary take on a wing chair for BD Barcelona, is typical of the designer’s mischievousness. The silhouette that he conceived, he says, reminds him of an herbivorous dinosaur; but it also comfortably hugs the body. $4,356–$8,615; bdbarcelona.com
If design aficionados stock only one book in their libraries, it should be the Atlas of Furniture. Newly published by Vitra Design Museum, its 1,000-plus pages cover the history of modern furniture design with over 1,700 objects by some 550 designers. $195; vitra.com
The oxidized bronze Althaea bookmarks are the work of Anaktae, a company started by industrial designer Dianna Karvounis and architect Vivian Philippa, who are enamored with all things Greek. $50 each; anaktae.com
Valentin Loellmann’s Steps stool was conceived as sculpture, but it provides a truly unique way to reach those high-shelf books. Made of mirror-polished stainless steel and crotch walnut. $75,000; valentinloellmann.de
Turn on the quirky Cone valet light from Sawkille Co. when reading. The cone can be made from a variety of woods and the shade comes in both tiger maple and linen options. $6,800; sawkille.com
Running out of shelf space? The Stairs Column by Ethnicraft helps you fit still more books into any corner. Made of sustainably sourced oak with a natural finish, the piece is tall and slender, but sturdy enough to hold the weightiest tomes. $1,160; ethnicraft.com
Los Angeles–based artists the Haas Brothers bring eccentric twists to common objects. Case in point: the Unicorn Octopus letter opener they designed for L’Objet. The horn/opener cleverly pulls out of an insert hole near the top of the pink mollusk body. $375; l-objet.com
Zhuang, a Chinese word meaning “to protect something precious,” lends its name to a new set of desk accessories by Neri & Hu for Poltrona Frau. The various elegantly simple boxes and pad are made of finely stitched saddle leather and brass. $380–$540; poltronafrau.com
The Classic Croc magazine rack by AERIN was inspired by Austrian modernism: a sling of Italian crocodile-embossed leather hangs from a polished brass frame. $975; aerin.com
