Two new designs by Ron Arad for Moroso take inspiration from the world of industrial design. Metal is at the forefront here-with all its malleability, flexibility, and function. Arad's 3 Nuns Stool and Z-Shelf are both part of a heterogeneous collection entitled Americana, which celebrates conceptual design and rejects "established conventions and labeling."

3 Nuns Stool and Z-Shelf Celebrate Industry Through Metal

3 Nuns Stool is constructed of strips of tempered steel connected by butterfly nuts. Its transparent construction pays homage to industry while also taking advantage of the material at hand. The strips make the stool resilient and flexible-"gradually discharging tension" while also "becoming both the structure and the identifying feature of the object."

Z-Shelf is a modular bookshelf system made from bent metal sheet. Its units can be assembled in a myriad of arrangements, each linear, geometric, and kinetic. A perfect sculptural piece devoid of display, Z-Shelf also forms an ideal skeleton for items such as books and objects. Modules come in sets of four with a protective clear lacquer finish on matte black steel. Z-Shelf is "an incomplete grille, broken up by cuts which lighten the perception." Moroso calls it "a snapshot of abandoned industry," and I agree. I see it as a circuitboard or subterranean train map interrupted by faults.