Oregon-based designer Erdem Selek has turned the everyday screwdriver into a desktop ornament with the PlusMinus tool set, which he will showcase at Milan design week.
PlusMinus is a minimalist take on the traditional screwdriver, with a ping-pong-bat shape devised to fit the hand. The designer intends it to be kept out on display rather than tidied away into a toolbox.
"The object questions the affordances of screwdrivers and tries to find a form that is intuitive and visually in tune with our living spaces" said Selek.
The paddle-shaped, polished stainless steel handles taper into Phillips #2 and 3/16-inch flat-bladed screwdrivers. Plus and minus signs are engraved into the handles to encourage the user to "instinctively unscrew or screw".
Selek is also behind the Corrugated Ruler, designed to help "distracting" offices become places of concentration. The ridged surface lacks the usual lines and numbers of conventional stationery, instead featuring smooth concave or convex ripples – which double as centimetre-long measures.
While they are not being used, Selek's designs cease to be functional objects and instead "turn our work environments into more harmonious and visually silent spaces". The designer was born and raised in Turkey but now works in the US.
PlusMinus will be exhibited at the upcoming Salone del Mobile in Milan, which runs from 4 to 9 April 2017. It will be displayed alongside other works by Selek, including Priz, a monochromatic extension cord, and Nordic Time, a loopless and buckleless silicone watch.
Other designs to be exhibited at Milan design week include Nendo's ultra-thin transparent silicone vases based on jellyfish and new Flow furniture collection created for Italian brand Alias.