UNIT SHELF
New Markets and Standards
Nimbari Kousakusho Co., Ltd. has long specialized in custom sheet metal furniture for diverse B2B business scenarios, from infrastructure and public spaces to amusement facilities, creating pieces tailored to specific applications. Building on their cultivated expertise and flexible response capabilities, they envisioned a new system unit shelf that would meet functional, design, and pricing requirements for previously unexplored markets—retail stores, small offices, and residential spaces—while creating standard products accessible to a broader audience.
Aesthetic Organization
Through multiple iterations of refinement, the shelf has been stripped to its essential elements, with unnecessary elements removed to achieve a character that comes from its very simplicity. While providing ample strength and storage capacity, it maintains a light presence, beautifully organizing books, products, and spaces themselves. The seamless design, made possible through Nimbari Kousakusho’s high precision, sets it apart from conventional unit shelves and allows it to harmonize with both personal and public spaces. This unit shelf, with 99% of its components made from sheet metal, establishes a new standard in the field.
Designer’s voice
Nimbari Kosakusho’s distinctive strength lies in their one-stop manufacturing environment that enables swift and flexible production. Their self-identified role as “sheet metal processing specialists” is fully supported by their deep knowledge and technical expertise. Cutting, bending, and joining sheet metal—within these limited fabrication methods, they tackled the challenge of creating an ultra-thin, ultra-slim 15mm-thick unit shelf. Through repeated prototyping, they incorporated various innovative solutions without compromising the original specifications or significantly altering the appearance, achieving an unprecedented unit shelf design. Seeing the final result, I felt that calling them “master craftsmen of sheet metal processing” was no exaggeration.
