A collaboration with Resource Furniture has led Susan Doban to a new line of multi-functional furniture she calls the Kinetic Collection.

The Columbia graduate, founder of Brooklyn-based Doban Architecture – and now, Think Fabricate – started out by coordinating designs for small hotel suites that could be used for a room as well.

“There’s a coffee table designed to work with Resource Furniture systems,” she says. “The top lifts up so you can sit at the sofa and use it as a work surface, or eat at it.”

From it evolved the Kinetic Collection of transformable furniture for clutter-free, flexible applications in small spaces.

“The idea is that everything has a place when it’s not used and still looks good,” she says. “It’s functional but it looks appealing.”

The collection consists of four practical pieces for space saving: Work n Play, a media unit; Hide n Seek, a wall cabinet; Slide, a credenza; and Lift, a coffee table. Each piece is outfitted with lift-able surfaces, slide-able panels and hidden compartments. They’re made from metallic-finished oak, grey-stained oak, walnut and lacquer.

“The Slide credenza was designed with a wall-mounted piece above it called Hide n Seek,” she says. “Slide has a door that covers a mini-fridge and also drawers.”

The wall-mounted Hide n Seek is a series of mirrored and walnut cabinets with different depths for a bar that’s coordinated with that mini-fridge, and even an ironing board.

“It’s  coordinated to present a wall that’s like an almost an artistic presentation for use by hospitality or in an apartment,” she says.

Sales are good, she says. Recently introduced at Brooklyn Designs, the pieces have been requested as custom-tailored to individual spaces.

Typically, Hide n Seek sells in the $10,000 range, the coffee table closer to $2,500.

“They’re definitely high-quality, high-end pieces,” she says.

But they’re designed within an inch of their lives, they’re multifunctional – and they do look good.

See: http://thinkfabricate.com/

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