Pivot by Raw Edges for Arco

Milan 2011: London design studio Raw Edges presented this dressing table and a desk with hinged drawers for Dutch brand Arco at the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan last week.

The piece is a development of the designers' Pivot project for the brand, originally launched with a cascading two-drawer unit in 2008 (see our earlier story).

Two drawers hinge, rather than slide, out of the body of the cabinet, which is made from lacquered oak.

The desk and dressing table versions have shorter legs and either a deeper table top or recess for a mirror along the back.

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The following is from the designers:

ARCO AND YOUNG TALENT / NEW PROJECTS

Arco is launching several new products this year, and it is striking to note that a new generation of designers is increasingly playing a role in the composition of the collection. In order to further intensify its contacts with this generation of design talent, Arco is currently organising an unusual design project: ARCO OKAY - London designers do furnishings.

This collaboration with the London designers of the Okay Studio is a follow-up to the Arco 12 project which was organised in 2005 on the occasion of the company's 100th anniversary.

Arco wishes to actively remain open to new ideas and challenged ten designers to create something in wood, based on the available production possibilities, which was totally different from the products in the existing collection.

A few years ago Arco started collaborating with a new generation of talented young designers at home and abroad. This approach is now bearing fruit. And, partly as a result, the company’s image is evolving. The solid and highly regarded collection that Arco has created over the years serves as a foundation from which the company can move forward with new élan.

Jorre van Ast took over the management of the family company on 1 January 2011. While preserving the highly acclaimed Arco style, he is adding his own striking signature as he slowly but surely expands the furniture collection that includes many bestsellers from the past. In keeping with its guiding principles, the company seeks to embrace innovation and sustainability while maintaining the same exacting quality standards and the traditional craftsmanship of the furniture maker.

Pivot Desk and Pivot Vanity design: Shay Alkalay, Raw-Edges Design Studio

The highly successful Pivot, a wall cabinet with two drawers, launched by Arco in 2008, has since been publicised and exhibited worldwide and has won various awards. The designer, Shay Alkalay, created the prototype in just three days. “No preparation, no research. It came to me just like that.” He made it shortly after completing his finals at the RCA in London, where he had been engaged in an intensive exploration of phenomena such as movement and gravity. “I didn’t ever make a real product at the Academy. I was just playing around. Pivot was the first piece of furniture to emerge from my research. It was loosely based on the mechanism of traditional sewing boxes and toolboxes.” The fact that the drawers hinge rather than slide makes it possible to open both drawers at the same time, creating a new typology.

There are now two different versions of the Pivot. Alkalay: “The Pivot is ideal if you don’t have much space, and also for things that don’t require much space. My mother-in-law thought it was the perfect make-up table. So I immediately made one for my wife Yael. It was not something I would ever have thought of. It also makes a very handy little work table with drawers – a writing desk that is just the thing for a laptop.”

The original cabinet has been made slightly lower and has been given an integrated desk top to create the Pivot Desk. The Pivot Vanity is a make-up table with a recess for a mirror in the top.