Dezeen Magazine

Mieke Meijer's Airframe 01 cabinet is based on early aeroplane design

Dutch designer Mieke Meijer has created a storage cabinet based on the wood-and-fabric structure of early 20th-century aeroplane wings (+ slideshow).

Airframe by Studio Mieke Meijer

The Airframe 01 cabinet rests on four slender wooden legs, and is made from hole-punched panels of oak veneer held together by lengths of steel cable.

The veneer creates a raised grid on the cabinet's surface, and also forms shelves inside the furniture. The Airframe 01 is accessed by two front doors, which are opened using the panels of veneer as handles.

Airframe by Studio Mieke Meijer

The furniture's construction was inspired by aeroplane wings built at the beginning of the 1900s, which were light, wooden structures covered with textiles. Mieke Meijer designed Airframe 01 to be easy to move, and the entire cabinet weights just 18.5 kilogrammes.

Airframe by Studio Mieke Meijer

The furniture was created for Dutch materials company Baars & Bloemhoff as part of its Dutch Design Week 2015 Transitions exhibition, which saw six designers to use its materials to create products.

The company's semi-transparent Triplex was used as a support material in the cabinet, and was chosen by the designer to be visible in the furniture's construction.

Airframe by Studio Mieke Meijer

"My design presents this material in a different light," said Meijer, who has also designed a suspended staircase and a desk inspired by photographs of industrial structures.

"It's no longer an inconspicuous structural component out of sight, but right there in the spotlight," she added. "The image is partly determined by the oak veneer from Decospan."

Airframe by Studio Mieke Meijer

"The title Airframe is an aviation term referring to the structure of an aircraft minus the engines. This corresponds exactly to what I had in mind. It's a cupboard that could fly, in a manner of speaking."

The cabinet was shown at the Transitions exhibition at Eindhoven's Broeinest building during Dutch Design Week 2015, which ran from 17 to 25 October.

Airframe by Studio Mieke Meijer

British designer Benjamin Hubert is among other designers that have also created lightweight furniture. He used laminated plywood material to create a table that he described as "the world's lightest".

Photography is by Raw Color and Studio Mieke Meijer.