These beehive-inspired shelves promise strength, speedy 6-minute setup with no tools

By Jenny McGrath November 10, 2014

What the hex key? Can you really assemble flatpack furniture without screws, nails, glue, and a booklet full of indecipherable icons, yet still end up with something that won’t buckle under the weight of your competitive-eating trophies? That’s the hope of Israeli industrial designer Ruthy Shafir. Taking inspiration from nature’s beautiful (and terrifying, for anyone who’s seen My Girl) abode for bees, Shafir has created a hive-shaped shelving unit that takes six minutes to put together, without any fasteners. She calls it Ruche, the French word for beehive.

Twelve cardboard or aluminum sheets slot together to form hexagonal- and triangular-shaped shelves; the resulting three-dimensional structure can bear heavy loads thanks to its design. The small cardboard version holds up to 22 pounds, while the larger model can take 142 pounds. If you’re looking for something to hold all those trophies, the small and large aluminum styles can hold 39.6 and 176 pounds, respectively. The shelves also come in a medium size.

The unit is also environmentally friendly; both versions are made from recycled material that come in a variety of colors. From wine to books to shoes, Ruche boasts about being able to store just about anything.

Shafir’s launching the product on Kickstarter, where a pledge of $30 will get you a small cardboard unit. The large aluminum version goes for $180. The units should ship in February, so… the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your perpetually sloppy sweetie?

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Jenny McGrath is a senior writer at Digital Trends covering the intersection of tech and the arts and the environment. Before…

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