Work submitted for the competition
"Best Interior Diploma 2020/2022".
The design of the transparent revolving, multifunctional furniture was created according to the conceptual art, as the idea has always been very important to me. The name comes from the heliocentric theory, where ἡλιος (hēlios), means the sun, and κέντρον (kentron) means the center. The "Helios" furniture consists of two frames intersecting at right angles, forming a "cross-shaped" form. When we look at the model from above, we can see that it is set on the plan of a cross, has four sides like the famous stone statue of Svyatovid, and "looks" at the room from all sides, the four directions of the world, and itself is the center, focusing the rest of the environment around it.
The furniture can be a decorative wall
© Malgorzata Tuszyńska
The idea of creating a multifunctional piece of furniture has its source in several concepts, and is also closely related to a paper I wrote as part of a seminar in my fourth year of study. It was an in-depth analysis of the architecture, design and interior furnishings of the royal palace at Versailles. Louis XIV, known as the Sun King, created his empire by taking inspiration from the planets in our solar system. He wanted his chamber to be the center of the French court, with the salon-planets revolving around it, and in the spirit of heliocentric thought, indeed everything revolved around the solar king. Therefore, the decorative lighting, the laths that make up the fronts of the cabinets, and the "cross-shaped" form of the furniture allude to the solar system.
Helios furniture project, top view
© Malgorzata Tuszynska
The third reason why "Helios" has exactly this form is that I wanted to mark my "invention" with a kind of signum temporis, that is, a sign of the times, which in this case are the changeability, mobility and pace of the 21st century. This furniture is placed in the center of the apartment, so it is at the same time a decorative wall, a desk, a bed and a bookcase. The structure of the piece of furniture named after the sun is openwork, which allows a lot of light to pass through.
The furniture is simultaneously a decorative wall, desk, bed and bookcase
© Malgorzata Tuszynska
The furniture's components are two frames intersecting at right angles, one of which serves as a display bookcase. Embedded in it are two cabinets and two shelves, with the possibility of matching them with suitable decorative fronts made of wooden fins. We fix the fronts in question on classic hinges. Above the cabinets there is also an additional shelf.
The structure of the furniture is openwork, which allows a lot of light to pass through
© Malgorzata Tuszyńska
A top bracket was designed especially for this project, which allows the furniture to be suspended from the ceiling, and a bottom bracket consisting of a ball bearing and a round collar, with which it is fixed to the ground. This system ensures that the furniture can rotate around its own axis, and it has a screw so that it can be fixed in any place so that it does not move during use. In addition, it is telescopic - its height is adjustable.
design catalog
© Malgorzata Tuszyńska
A system consisting of a rotating platter bearing and a steel swivel and a hinge is built into the lower part of the frame to allow the installation of a second frame. The frame proper also contains a desk top set on a pivot hinge and bracket so that it can be locked in place. The second frame is also a decorative quilted wall. The bed is set on four adjustable feet, which can be tucked away as you expose this quilted wall.
The bed is set on four adjustable legs, which can be retracted, at the same time as exposing this quilted wall
© Malgorzata Tuszynska
The bed support system has a built-in angle hinge that allows the bed to be unfolded. The entire system is pivotable, the bed is unfolded from both the front of the furniture and its right side. The mattress is set on a frame, the frame can also be widened to store bedding inside. "Helios" is modifiable, it is possible to choose the appropriate fronts crowning the bookcase, moreover, each of these fronts is double-sided, cubic - it is the customer who chooses which side of the furniture is the front one.
Malgorzata Tuszynska
Illustrations: © Author
