Formwork
Formwork stackable desktop storage designed by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin helps you bring order to your papers, tools, and artifacts. With shapes and sizes that were rigorously considered to relate an intuitive sense of utility, the accessories may be stacked and combined in any way you see fit.
Balancing meticulous attention to details with a thoughtful consideration of context, Hecht and Colin created Formwork in varying permutations, allowing some items to be kept out of view, while others remain within reach, based on aesthetic considerations or frequency of use. The sophisticated forms, material production, and color palette indicate a level of thoughtfulness rarely brought to desktop goods. Each form is shaped in ABS plastic with a non-slip silicone base.
“Our office behaves like a good, condensed international neighborhood, which is efficient, energetic, and pleasurable.”
– Sam Hecht and Kim Colin
Pencil Cup
As their book The Usefulness of Small Things attests, Hecht and Colin take
great pleasure in everyday items, and few items are more everyday than the
lowly pencil. In providing a place for these analog writing instruments, the
designers thoughtfully included a ledge for smaller items too, some certainly
digital, such as a memory stick.
Tray, Large and Small
Hecht and Colin approached the design of Formwork by examining the items that
populate our lives and our desks. In their design for the line’s small and large
trays, they gave each a cantilevered ledge to allow the placement of items in
order of usefulness—giving you ready access to some things and letting you
place others in the background.
Box, Large and Small
To account for the bulkier items that inevitably occupy surfaces at home and in
the office, Hecht and Colin created boxes with removable lids. Each lid has a
hole that accepts a removable cup. Or, the cup can be set in an indentation
inside the box and under the hole for access to the cup’s contents without
having to remove the lid.
Tissue Box
Hecht and Colin’s pragmatic design for a Tissue Box ensures that Formwork
meets all the requirements of the modern desk, which in their estimation is “an
amalgamation of not just the office, but also the kitchen, the workshop, and
the bathroom.”
Media Stand
As digital tools such as tablets and notebooks become ubiquitous, Hecht and
Colin saw the need for convenient places to store them, and for a thoughtfully
angled surface on which to use them. The Media Stand’s stabilizing silicone
base ensures that your gadget stays put even with vigorous use of a touch screen.
Paper Tray
With so much emphasis on the digital, it is surprising how much paper still
clutters desktops, kitchen counters, and workshops. Acknowledging that paper
will always be with us, Hecht and Colin created Paper Trays that stand alone,
and stack with other trays or Formwork elements. A gently sloped lip makes
picking up the pieces easy.
