Cologne 2012: French design brand Ligne Roset present their new collection in Cologne this week, including this little storage unit modelled on a traditional sewing box by Copenhagen designers GamFratesi.

Like the original, Picnic is raised on short legs with a handle looped over the top so it's easy to move around. The box is made entirely from ash and stained in black.

This time last year GamFratesi launched their Rewrite desk for Ligne Roset - take a look at it here.

imm cologne continues until 22 January. Ligne Roset will also present the collection at Maison & Objet in Paris from 20 to 24 January.

Here are some more details from Ligne Roset:

Picnic

As with their Rewrite desk from 2011, the aesthetic astonishment arises from the unexpected meeting between the déjà-vu (‘already seen’) and a surprising new element: the storage section is evocative of the traditional sewing box or workbox, but when one turns away from the original function (the first priority is no longer necessarily to arrange one’s sewing kit) and updates the materials (black-stained ash replaces the more traditional oak or cherry), it transcends the more ordinary references to take on another dimension altogether, one which is both familiar and strange.

Picnic’s familiar, domestic character is underlined by the softly curved treatment of the storage chest as well as its support feet/handle which enables it to be moved about with ease.

GamFratesi is a design agency founded in Copenhagen in 2006 by Danish architect Stine Gam and Italian architect Enrico Fratesi. This Italian-Danish pairing embodies two talented European design traditions: the magical union between the design of the South and that of the North.