High-end designer style: ultimate storage furniture buys for design aficionados

Take an artistic approach to displaying treasures or hiding clutter. That’s the message from today’s designers as they combine style with maximum flexibility within their increasingly imaginative storage solutions.

“Contemporary storage has definitely ‘broken out of the box’,” says Tina Mahony, co-founder of King’s Road design store Go Modern.

“Many of our latest designs are completely modular and this great flexibility allows home-owners to create storage that perfectly fits their interior space.

“Designers are now working with incredibly exciting new materials such as etched iron, patinated bronze or lacquered glass, creating storage units that are strong, design-led pieces with their own personality.”

Italian furniture brands display a special flair in this respect. The architectural Cabinet de Curiosité, from £3,180, produced by Bonaldo, offers personalised configurations using six different storage modules.

Each has a variable number of windows and shelves for displaying books, ornaments and photographs.

Designer Fabrice Berrux was “inspired by my grandfather’s study in Paris” and the cabinet’s architectural style is also proving to be quite a hit with Londoners.

More Italian magic comes from Como-based Mogg. Its industrial-style Metrica bookcase, from £730, has vertical iron rods, spaced at irregular intervals, bearing shelves made from bronze or green-tinted, toughened glass. It can be wall-hung or freestanding.

An equally crisp look is created by the Holdy wall system from Italian brand Jesse, from £3,230. Lacking any vertical elements, the design appears to float on the wall. Doors are positioned on integral shelving tracks wherever required.

Meanwhile, Mogg’s Cellula wall unit is a geometric jigsaw of metal wall-mounted containers — ideal for customised looks.

Modules are finished in white, brass, etched iron or patinated bronze with optional, magnet-fastened doors. From £260 per single unit.

For all these Italian designs and more visit Go Modern.

Contemporary designers are also creating glamorous, free-standing cabinets and chests that double as stunning artworks.

Take the Origami Armoires by Brittany-based cabinet maker Jean-Luc Mounier. Inspired by a New York skyscraper’s façade, the decorative surfaces of these limited-edition cabinets feature quilt-like triangles rendered in cast bronze and carved ebony.

The dynamically graphic pattern wraps around three sides. In terms of design, construction and detail these are exceptional items and inevitably command an exceptional price of £130,000 a pair at Todd Merrill Studio.

Swiss-born Paris-based Mattia Bonetti also works at the art/design interface. Using luxurious materials, he pushes technological boundaries to create highly individual furniture held at museums including the Victoria & Albert in London and Centre Pompidou in Paris.

His Harlequin chest is made from gilded and painted rock crystal with an American walnut interior while his Stripe cabinet features silver-gilded and black, hand-painted rock crystal with a wenge-stained and sapele veneer. Prices on request for these dazzling limited editions from David Gill Gallery.

Artistic creativity is similarly matched with technical brilliance by the award-winning, London-based design duo, Fredrikson Stallard.

A case in point is the limited-edition, patinated-bronze cabinet whose raw, bronze interior is fitted with glass shelves.

No wonder stellar brands including Swarovski, Dunhill, Gieves & Hawkes and The Savoy hotel have all commissioned work. Price on request from David Gill Gallery.

Equally jewel-like are cabinets made from architectural wrought ironwork by Christophe Come. Honey Silver cabinet, £56,880, features industrial glass roundels with oxidised silver leaf, giving its tall, ironwork frame a glowing allure.

The Wrought Iron cabinet, at the same price, also has glass roundels with white-gold and moon-gold leaf decoration. Order them from Cristina Grajales Gallery.

If you are prepared to splash out on a design that will also delight future generations, commission a one-off piece by Zelouf & Bell.

This brilliant Dublin-based design duo — New Yorker Susan Zelouf and Belfast-born Michael Bell — create museum-quality work such as the Torii Bar with a marquetry heron design in black bolivar, red birch, white figured anegre and other exotic timbers.

Another stunner is the Sakura cabinet featuring a cherry-blossom motif on a mouth-blown, acid-etched, hand-engraved panel back-lit with dimmable LED lights.

Similar pieces would cost around £47,250 and £34,360 respectively. Pricey, but as Zelouf observes: “Both of us believe a thing well made is a thing worth making.” And, of course, enjoying for years to come.