The Shavings Coffee Table and the Shavings Stool are quirky, award winning designs by Israeli designer Yoav Avinoam. Using the magic of resin, reclaimed wood shavings are formed into a mold that contains the legs of the stool or table. The outcome is something that reminds me of a plant that has just been taken from its container, waiting to be placed in the ground. That images is especially strong with the coffee table, whose legs have grown roots that anchor it into the dirt.

The Shavings Stool. Designed by Yoav Avinoam.

These pieces would be great for a child’s space with their durable surface and playful molded shape. The lighter colored resin/sawdust combination looks a little less like dirt and more like wood shavings, but I do like the contrast between the material of the legs and the seat. While not for everyone, the Shavings collection is undeniably a creative use of a waste material.

“By using sawdust waste from the wood industry, as a response to the way we look at our usage and exploitation of material in modern culture. The sawdust (taken from different kinds of woods) is being pressed with resin into a mold that already contains all of the object parts, the opportunity was exploring new ways of integration between the legs of the furniture and the sawdust through expansion of the joints, this and the way the sawdust crumbles toward the edges creates a new material esthetics to once destined to be waste material.” -Yoav Avinoam

About the Designer: Yoav Avinoam was born in 1980 in Petah Tiqva, Israel. He attributes his early interest in the aesthetics of cars to his interest in industrial design. In 2005 he began his studies at the Bezalel Academy of art and design in Jerusalem. The Shavings stool and coffee table were his graduation project at Bezalel. His work was selected to be in Israel`s Designers of the future exhibition in Tel Aviv. In 2010 Yoav won 3rd place in the Massimo Martini design award “the intelligent hand”, a design competition made in collaboration with MACEF Milan and DesignBoom for his Shavings project. Yoav Avinoam lives and works in Tel-Aviv, Israel.