The Tools for Life range is based on the idea that furniture should be understood as a high-performance instrument rather than a design statement. OMA conceived the furniture to facilitate the contemporary flow between work and social life, while adjusting to the different needs of both.
Tools for Life includes the 04 Counter, intended as a new typology of furniture: starting as a stack of three horizontal bars, the user can rotate the top two bars into any configuration, transform the wall-like unit into a series of shelves, desks, and cantilevered benches at different heights – a metamorphosis from a spatial partition to a communal gathering place.
The collection features tables that can be adjusted – also by electric motor – from coffee table to desk height, swivel chairs, a stool, an executive desk, and other items. Each piece is made from a simple material palette (transparent acrylic, leather, travertine, steel, wood, glass, concrete) making the furniture compatible with a range of residential and workplace interiors.
OMA collaborated with Inside/Outside on the design of Knoll exhibition space at the Salone del Mobile. The project, featuring an organic sequence of spaces, defined by a continuous double layer white curtain, redefines the paradigm of a trade show stand, provoking a more subtle, surprising and intimate relationship with the products.