Ofon, Coin-assembled office furniture | Nendo


Ofon is a collection of office furniture by Japanese design studio Nendo that can be simply screwed together just with a coin, requiring no other tools in the assembly process.






Designed for office furniture brand Kokuyo, it is intended to be used for small offices where modularity is important, and the employees are constantly modifying their workplaces, responding to situations. Its name, Ofon, comes from the users’ ability to attach and detach the different parts, giving them both ‘on’ and ‘off’ space.

The two parts of each joint lie flush with the surface of the furniture when not in use and can be released as easily as pushing a button. 

Box-type shelves and desks can be attached by fixing the joints on the top, bottom or side panels. Smaller storage compartments can also serve as legs for desks. Pastel-colored upholstered panels can be attached as cupboard doors, or employed as partition screens between desks.

All photos © Hiroshi Iwasaki





Description by Nendo:

Ofon
for Kokuyo

An office furniture collection designed for small workspaces.
Quick change is important for small offices. They need to be able to modify the office layout to respond to frequent moves, and to employee numbers expanding and contracting flexibly based on the organization’s growth and the scale of each new project. We wanted our office furniture to be easily expandable and multi-functional, too. We developed a ‘coin joint’ that can be screwed and unscrewed with a single coin, rather than requiring tools.


Assembling the furniture is almost as easy as pushing a button. The two parts of the joint lie flat when the furniture is not in use, then spring out with the touch of a finger to be screwed together with the coin. We used this joint to assemble box-type shelves. Shelves not in use can serve as legs for cabinet-type desks. The upholstered panels that function as cupboard doors also function as partitions between the desks; placed together, they can also partition the office space. The result: a  highly functional design that allows workers to focus and relax within the same small space, and offers the physical flexibility required for easy changes to the office layout.


Since the design gives workers both ‘on’ and ‘off’ space and maximizes users’ ability to attach and detach the parts, ‘ofon’ was the perfect name for the collection.













Source: DezeenNendo