After completing a traditional carpenter's apprenticeship, Hanover, Germany-based Theresa von Bodelschwingh worked as a journeyman carpenter for years before eventually pursuing a degree in design. Now she runs her own product design studio, where her grasp of both how to design things and how to make them has informed her practice.

"As a carpenter and designer, I deal a lot with different materials," she writes. "In the field of tension between design, craftsmanship and art, I like rediscovering materials, finding new uses and creating combinations. In the end, my designs are mostly reduced with a clear design language. I often go back from a lot to very little and try to make my products special through the details and their materiality."

A project of hers that caught my scout's eye is her Sesame rolling storage unit with modular cabinets. Because the size of each corresponds with European paper size conventions--DIN A3, A4, A5 and A6—each size is half the dimensions of the succeeding size, allowing the cabinets to neatly correspond when stacked.

I could see this coming in very handy in a space-tight shop or sewing studio, with commonly-used items in the front-facing drawers, and less-frequently-used jigs or pieces of kit tucked away in the side-facing ones. And the A6-sized drawers would make a good home for drawings, patterns and plans. On top of that, I think it's a great-looking piece.

Hmmm... I may have to build one of these!

I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.

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