Nest meets desk at Basel2010

Nacho Carbonell's desk might look like a giant porcupine-cum-bird's nest, but this innovative design allows for serene isolation.

Spanish designer Nacho Carbonell designed a giant iron nest for Design Miami/Basel 2010 in Switzerland.

The structure, aptly titled Bush of Iron, comprises a wire shell with a desk-like recess on the inside, suitable for one person. This reinforced all-iron design houses thousands of wire spines, extruding from the desk-like frame.

A resemblance to a natural creature can be imagined when considering the Bush of Iron. The use of raw iron is reminiscent of something from the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

Bush of Iron is the final piece in Carbonell’s Diversity collection made for Galleria Rossana Orlandi and shown earlier at the Milan Furniture Fair 2010. Diversity is a collection of conceptual desks, illustrating Carbonell’s fast-growing reputation for distinct, innovative and experimental design.

The prototypes were developed using experimental techniques that combine thorns, gravel, filaments, bushes, resins and steel.

Inside the structure there is a space, protected by the metal extrusions, for the user to rest, think and be isolated. Carbonell explains: “The innards of the Bush of Iron provide one person with a private space, protected from interruptions. The outside is another story: like a porcupine, it’s spines are not there to make you cuddle comfortably around it.”

Small-scale models of the 18 pieces in the Diversity collection accompanied the Bush of Iron at Basel.