paolo & francesco
Joinery as Identity.
PAOLO & FRANCESCO are a pair of side tables in laser-cut PMMA, built entirely by joinery, with no glue and no screws. Each is a compact 40 cm cube in which the structure is also the decoration: every slot, tab and interlock remains visible, and the way the table is assembled becomes the way it is recognised.
The pieces ship flat and lock together by hand in a few minutes, with no tools. For a manufacturer this means components cut from standard sheets, minimal packaging volume and low logistics costs; for the end user, a light, graphic object that moves easily from a living room to a hotel suite or a design store.
The same cutting files can produce any colour or finish of PMMA, so the pair can grow into a collection without new tooling. PAOLO & FRANCESCO belong to the Transparent Experiments series, which applies the same joinery logic, derived from Japanese sashimono, to different typologies, including the Anemone&Medusa lamp.
Each table is a compact square volume, 45 cm wide and 40 cm high, in which the structure is also the decoration: every slot, tab and interlock remains visible, and the way the table is assembled becomes the way it is recognised.
The name comes from two pairs. One is Dante’s Paolo and Francesca, the most famous couple in Italian literature. The other is Paolo and Francesco, two friends of the designer whose home is full of acrylic furniture: a pair of tables for two people who love the material.
