Your Design Has Holes

Whether to lighten up a material, let light shine through, or just add a bit of flair, perforations are popping up everywhere. Small holes may have driven the Poinçonneur des Lilas crazy, but we’re mad for them!

The 3+ collection by Oskar Zieta features furniture entirely composed of perforated steel plates. Perfect for cable management, keeping laptops and sweaty backs cool, letting the water through in an outdoor situation, or making a giant chair mobile (?). 

Mutina’s latest tile collection by the Bouroullec Brothers, ‘Pico’, has very small loosely imprinted dots in red or blue, which create a slightly quilted texture from far away. The very subtle touch of color adds an almost nostalgic childhood feel to a clean, modern bathroom or kitchen. 

Somewhere between a huge domino and a monument to braille, Barber Osgerby’s marble bench by Established and Sons for the Victoria & Albert museum in London was inspired by the shrapnel marks left on the museum’s façade. 

Nothing says Champagne like bubbles, which for HK designers John Lin, Joshua Bolchover and Jason Carlow translates into perforations all over the wall, bars and seating of the ‘Maison du Champagne’ in Wan Chai.

Inspired by factory workers’ lockers in the sixties crossed with 18^th century French furniture with mid-century proportions, the pieces in the ‘locker’ collection by Magnus Pettersen each have perforated aluminum fronts. A great way to keep your socks aired out yet out of sight.

The Dream Downtown hotel by Handel Architects takes perforation to an Olympic level. Overlapping layers of perforated metal in different scales give you a connect four, porthole or Swiss cheese feel, depending on how far away from the façade you stand. 

‘Down side up’ by Fabrica is a modular furniture system where each element has an irregularly perforated surface designed to accommodate many variations in configuration. Very clever, although it looks a bit worm-eaten.

‘Moon’ is a perforated serving dish… for your larger fruits and non-saucy items only.

The Kanazawa Umimirai library’s outer shell is evenly perforated from floor to ceiling. The relatively small holes allow bright daylight in the (w)hole building, but take away the view of the outside. No distractions here.

By Claire Toussaint