Dezeen Magazine

Raum404 creates freestanding mirrors and furniture for Zurich hair salon

Steel sections form triangular frames for mirrors and matching furniture at a minimal hairdressers in Zurich by local studio Raum404 (+ slideshow).

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

Raum404 designers Oscar Buson and Simona La Gioia created mirrors, stools, tables and a console exclusively for a salon and barbershop in the Swiss city.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

Based on the shape of a children's chalkboard, the double-sided mirrors are mounted on 15-millimetre square steel frames.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

The designers named the collection Nine Degrees after the size of the acute angle formed where the slanted mirrored panels meet at the top.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

"This angle allows a perfect reflection of the subject by bringing him in a close relation between his own intimacy and the surrounding space," said Buson.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

Small stools and tables have the same profiles as the bottom of the mirrors. Their waterproof wood-composite board surfaces are positioned just below the lower edges of the mirrored panels, so they tuck neatly underneath the frames when not in use.

Taller tables have an inverted frame that gets wider towards the top, and the surfaces are covered with the same material.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

The collection also includes a marble console, supported by a pair of upside-down triangular legs made from copper.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

"The shape based on a reverse classical frame gives an incredible lightness to the table," Buson said. "The reinforced marble board seems floating against natural weight forces."

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

The freestanding furniture allows the salon owners to reconfigure the otherwise open space to suit their needs.

Mirrors can also be rearranged at a small salon in Osaka, where they hang from cables on the ceiling.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

Materials were chosen to contrast with the salon's white-painted walls and herringbone-patterned wooden flooring.

Nine degrees by Oscar Buson

Other minimal hairdressers completed recently include one in Osaka that is divided by crimped wooden screens, and a space elsewhere in Japan decorated with white and black painted patches.

Photography is by Pit Brunner.