Dutch designers Daphna Laurens have created a series of storage containers that partially conceal their contents behind metal grilles.

They presented the cork and aluminium Cover collection with fellow members of design collective Dutch Invertuals as part of an exhibition on the theme of vulnerability called Untouchables Retouched in Milan last month.

The pair also showed pieces from their Cirkel collection in Milan at The Front Room: Geometry and Colour.

See all our stories about their work »

Photography is by Raw Color and Daphna Laurens.

Here's some more information from the designers:

Cover is a collection of containers. Containers that make you curious, curious about what's inside of them. The covers can be separated from the bowls to fill them, or they can be used singly as open containers.

By drawing a line or closing borders, by creating boundaries or setting up fences people believe they can create a certain level of safety. These divisions make curiosity turn into fear. Fear of the unknown. These objects aim to arouse that natural human quality, curiosity.

Materials are cork and aluminium, blasted and powder coated.

Cover collection was presented at the Salone del Mobile 2012 for the first time at the Dutch Invertuals exhibition: Untouchables retouched

“Almost unnoticed we have shaped a society without danger. Nevertheless things happen to us we can’t control. ‘Untouchables Retouched’ is a visual dialogue about re-balancing and re-valuating the beauty of vulnerability.”

By conducting research and experiments the Invertuals have transposed the theme of vulnerability onto contemporary designs. Balance, delicacy, curiosity and transience were sources of inspiration.

Dutch Invertuals is a collective of individual designers who are always in search of the limits of their profession. They present pieces that reflect their contemporary viewpoints in images, objects, materials, insights and stories.

Participants:

Daphna Laurens, Edhv, Mieke Meijer, Raw Color, Jetske Visser, Jeroen Wand, Maurizio Montalti, Kirstie van Noort, Susana Camara & Mike Thompson, Adrien Petrucci, Paul Heijnen.

Curator: Wendy Plomp

As a designer and initiator of Dutch Invertuals, Wendy Plomp tells the story of a collective: born from the idea that a mix of strong individuals can create a wonderful unexpected world in which the different disciplines reflect the multi-faced nature of design.