Swedish design group Kredema is composed of a couple who obviously do not tire of each other in stereotypical sitcom fashion. They explain, “We are both very creative and are not afraid to take on new challenges. Since we are married and living together, a large part of our lives is about design.” Personally, I like that they specify that they live together—marriages where people do not live together, however, always prove more interesting, if not ultimately harmonious. Private lives aside, Kicki Edgren and Peter Nyborg produce some fantastic and fantastical products, including Edgren’s Master’s Thesis project, Off the Wall.

Off the Wall. Designed by Kredema.

Part wallpaper and part wall shelving, Off the Wall ultimately transforms the flat plane—of the wall and the pattern. The wall covering becomes three-dimensional, thereby breaking the continuity of space. The embedded shelves distort the formerly two-dimensional patterns as well. In short, everything gets disturbed in a very satisfying way, calling into question the solidity of a surface—and, by extension, the solidity, or knowability, of space. How we expect surfaces to act—flatly, uniformly, properly—gets turned on its head.

This effect is particularly strong with Off the Wall’s striped patterns, which necessarily show more disruption, since the elemental line is troubled into curves. Those arcs breaking the straight stripes also generate an optical illusion, something op artists like Ernst Benkert 
and other members of the Anonima Group sought to stress (yes, double meaning intended, as in stress the eyes). Off the Wall, in production right now, will be available through the Kredema website in December 2009, although the entire line will not be presented until December 2010.