Topical Guide 263
Mark Dorset
Projects: Practical, Impractical, and Both
Hobbies: Tinkering
Bookshelves: Expandable
Because Herb was one of the best salesmen the Piper family had ever produced, he simply couldn’t keep himself from selling his cover. He sold Professor Clapp’s Five-Foot Shelf of books with a degree of success that not even his Uncle Ben had ever achieved. Nor could Herb resist putting his predilection for tinkering to the service of the goods he sold, and that was how the Piper nemesis, that misdirected enthusiasm, caught up with him. He invested considerable time and money in designing and manufacturing a shelf that expanded as his customers received their monthly books, eventually reaching a full five feet, but he lost money on each one he sold. He developed clever hideaway boxes and false bottoms for dresser drawers, which allowed his coarse-goods customers to keep their collections out of sight, but on these too he lost money.
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 4
REK bookcase by Reinier de Jong
Originally designed for a private client, the REK bookcase by Reinier de Jong has interlocking shelves that allow it to slide out to make space for more books as required.
The different shelf dimensions hold various sizes, while the narrowest slots are ideal for magazines. At its largest, the bookcase is 228 centimetres wide.
Last year de Jong presented an extendable coffee table to complement the REK bookcase, while in Cologne this year he launched a folding wooden chair made from old wooden broom handles.
Emilie Chalcraft, “REK bookcase by Reinier de Jong” in Dezeen
Photographed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art April 9, 2022:
Winslow Homer’s A Basket of Clams
[more to come on Friday, May 20, 2022]
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