Infinito Book­case

Linear, elegant, and visu­ally light… like all of Franco Albini’s designs, each compo­nent of the designer’s Infinito shelv­ing book­case storage system becomes an aspect within a larger compo­si­tion that visu­ally explores equi­lib­rium. With a mere five compo­nents – shelves in two depths, cabi­nets in two heights, a single tensioned strut – Albini has provided the ​“tools” with which to design a plethora of storage systems.

The struts are adjustable in height and are tensioned between ceiling and floor with disc pads. Each strut section features Albini’s char­ac­ter­is­tic taper­ing – the visual aspects of each strut becom­ing thinner as the tension­ing compo­nents are revealed near the ceiling and floor. Each Infinito shelv­ing strut is verti­cally bifur­cated creat­ing a slit that allows light and space to pass through the form – each side of the strut has a series of holes through which shelves and cabi­nets can be affixed at varying heights. Shelves are avail­able in two depths – each features exquis­ite detail­ing that includes a shallow perime­ter wall; the sides of which are artic­u­lated as a cant at the shelf’s open front. Cabi­nets are also avail­able in two heights – the shorter has a closed face expanse that func­tions as a drop-down door; the taller has a face divided into two doors that open outward from the center. The verti­cal slits and perfo­ra­tions along with the inher­ent hori­zon­tal open­ings around shelves and cabi­nets, ensure a profound levity to any result­ing Infinito shelv­ing compo­si­tion. While the shelv­ing can certainly be placed near a wall, it was designed to be free­stand­ing making it also ideal as a room or space divider.

While Cassina makes all of the Infinito shelv­ing compo­nents avail­able sepa­rately to allow the system to be person­ally customized, the manu­fac­turer also offers several popular single, double, and triple config­u­ra­tions – each includes a number of shelves of varying depths and cabi­nets of varying heights. The system is avail­able in three finishes – ash wood in natural or black-stained as well as American walnut.