Product news: this collection of office furniture by Japanese design studio Nendo can be screwed together with a coin rather than tools (+ slideshow).
The two parts of each coin joint lie flush in the flat-pack panels when not in use, but with the push of a finger the screw component springs out to be loosened using small change.
Nendo designed the flexible Ofon range for office furniture brand Kokuyo to be used by companies who are constantly rearranging their workplaces.
Different desks and shelves can be attached by fixing the joints on the top, bottom and side panels.
Small shelving units double as legs for desks or stack on top of each other and side by side to create larger storage solutions.
Pastel-coloured fabric panels fit over the cubby holes to conceal their contents, hinged along the top edges.
Black, white and wood veneer options for each variation can be ordered.
Nendo's latest projects include bottle designs for coffee flavoured beer and an installation of shower-light hybrids.
Photos are by Hiroshi Iwasaki.
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Nendo provided us with the following text:
Ofon
An office furniture collection designed for small workspaces.
Quick change is important for small offices. They need to be able to modify the office layout to respond to frequent moves, and to employee numbers expanding and contracting flexibly based on the organisation’s growth and the scale of each new project. We wanted our office furniture to be easily expandable and multi-functional, too.
We developed a 'coin joint' that can be screwed and unscrewed with a single coin, rather than requiring tools.
Assembling the furniture is almost as easy as pushing a button. The two parts of the joint lie flat when the furniture is not in use, then spring out with the touch of a finger to be screwed together with the coin.
We used this joint to assemble box-type shelves. Shelves not in use can serve as legs for cabinet-type desks.
The upholstered panels that function as cupboard doors also function as partitions between the desks; placed together, they can also partition the office space. The result: a highly functional design that allows workers to focus and relax within the same small space, and offers the physical flexibility required for easy changes to the office layout.
Since the design gives workers both 'on' and 'off' space and maximizes users' ability to attach and detach the parts, 'ofon' was the perfect name for the collection.