Dutch design collective Droog, which knows a thing or two about making a big splash, kept things small and humble at this year’s Salone del Mobile in Milan. Focusing on the rudimentary (and mostly overlooked) elements in furniture construction, Droog introduced Construct Me!, a suite of hardware—nails, screws, hinges, nuts, brackets—designed to inject both fun and panache into ordinary workhorse details.
Screws with emoticon faces, nails that, when hammered, flatten out into ornamentation, and colored hinges with decorative cut-out patterns may sound showy enough, but Droog was careful to call attention to each item’s usefulness. Each element is wholly functional, and, in some cases, improves upon expected functionality.
And as if to…uh…hammer home the point, the Construct Me! collection took up residence at Milan’s Alfredo Vigano, a real hardware shop where all 210 hardware items remained on display for locals and fair-goers alike to see. The Salone del Mobile judges were impressed enough to award Droog the event’s Best Tech award, for its ‘highly technical, yet poetic’ hardware collection.
Via Irenebrination
