Artek and Shigeru Ban

Designed by Shigeru Ban, the 10-UNIT SYSTEM is a novel furniture concept that has been launched in Milan during the Salone del Mobile 2009. The fully modular system is based on L-shaped units that can be combined in all sorts of ways to make furniture – a chair, a table, a bench. Putting furniture together and disassembling it is made easy by the ingenious yet simple design. The standard colours of the 10-UNIT SYSTEM are black and white; other colours are available on request.
The highly ecological and ethical 10-UNIT SYSTEM is made from UPM ProFi, an environmentally innovative wood plastic composite. Its principal raw materials are recycled paper and plastic. The composite has proved to be tough and humidity resistant. It is an environmentally sustainable material that can be disposed of by incineration, or recycled back into the production process. All materials in the composite are non-toxic. Artek, Shigeru Ban and UPM continue their collaboration from earlier years. "Space of Silence", the Artek Pavilion designed by Shigeru Ban for the Milan Triennale Garden in spring 2007, was built from the UPM ProFi wood plastic composite. The pavilion was based on a structural unit that was repeated multiple times to form an elongated exhibition space. The Artek Pavilion was extraordinary proof of the efficiency of systems thinking and repetition, distinctive of Ban’s architecture and design. The pavilion was sold at Sotheby’s sale of Important 20th Century Design in 2008.

Shigeru Ban and 10-UNITSYSTEM_chair. Photos Romain Sellier.
10-UNIT SYSTEM table and chairs. Photo Aino Huovio.