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Endless possibilities to create your perfect storage system with Treku
A good piece of design can tilt the balance either way while being careful not to topple it: leaning towards the playful and sculptural while keeping its vocation as a useful piece of furniture, or opting for a streamlined and unadorned functionality while incorporating details and textures that can’t be found in mass-produced commercial furniture. The nature or typology of certain furniture pieces themselves sometimes leans toward a specific orientation. A table lamp or designer coffee table, for instance, can be more prone to formal experimentation than, say, a set of pantry shelves or a kitchen cabinet.
With these sorts of storage and shelving-dedicated pieces of furniture, a new set of constraints come into play. For a good designer, such constraints are not necessarily limiting, but can rather be productive. Every detail is crucial, from the juncture where two different materials intersect to the rail that makes a sliding cabinet door open with a satisfying sliding motion. Plus, there are different modalities of storage which one has to consider. Certain household objects are usually better when kept out of sight, while others can—or are meant—to be put on display. In many cases, modularity can also be a spur to creativity.
Thinking about how to make different (and sometimes complementary) iterations of the same idea is not an easy task. Can shelves and storage systems not only make your life easier and your living space more ordered but can also shine forth as masterfully designed pieces of interior furniture in their own right? If you take a look at the work of the Basque company Treku, it’s hard not to answer with a resounding yes. Based in Zarautz, Muebles Treku is a family-owned business which has been crafting top-quality Spanish furniture in wood since 1947, when Jesús Aldabaldetreku founded a modest carpentry shop in this small coastal town when he was 36 years old. This town, located near San Sebastián already had a centuries-long woodworking tradition. The people of Zarautz were well-regarded as expert craftsmen of fishing boats and rowing boats from the XVI until the mid-XIXth centuries when economic transformations brought traditional shipyards in the area to a close. However, the increased tourism of the aristocracy and bourgeoisie to the beaches in this region spurred a shift from the manufacture of vessels to that of furniture. It is here that Jesús opened his carpentry workshop, first building bathroom furniture for the locals and then moving on to all other kinds of domestic pieces as his reputation in the region grew. After Jesús retired his children transformed the small workshop into a modern factory in the neighbourhood of Olaa, where it continues to stand until this day. The factory is now managed by the two grandsons, who have carried their inherited tradition into the 21st century.
Today, Treku is a Spanish furniture brand with a reputation for the quality, finesse, and care that they put into every piece, while also collaborating with other designers from around the world. It is a fully modern manufacturer, and yet preserves the ethos and expertise that can only be found in a generation-spanning family-owned business. Although they offer some of the best furniture in wood out there (such as designer coffee tables, bedside tables, luxury beds and more) today we would like to focus one their modular sideboards and shelving systems.
Best Furniture: Bost and Kai modular shelving systems
Designed by the Valencian studio Yonoh, the Bost Collection is a steel and wood modular shelving system which stands out due to its combination of inconspicuous simplicity and painstakingly conceived structure and details. Made from a delicate tubular steel structure and timber shelves, its sleekness speaks volumes while remaining visually unobtrusive. The steel structure comes in 17 different lacquers (from black and white to several tones of green, orange, and ochre) and 7 different wood finishes (you can take a closer look at all of the options here). The modular configurations are even more numerous, with plenty of widths, lengths and modules to choose from. Let’s take a look at a couple of possible configurations. As a set of shelves, it is perfectly suited to display items such as books, vases, table lamps, and other assorted pieces of interior decor. However, it can also be ordered with a set of elegant wooden boxes where you can store trinkets or documents. As a sleek sideboard, it could be placed in your living room or office. It is even possible to configure a wardrobe with a module for hanging all your coats.
The Kai Collection is another modern modular shelving system, this one designed by the French designer Jean-Louis Iratzoki. Built with sturdy veneered beech plywood, the Kai is as customisable and multifunctional as the Bost, with many customisation options to be chosen, such as dividers, back panels and closed shelves. As a shelving unit, with its stronger visual presence—in great part due to its thick reticular structure—it is a good option to separate different spaces in a domestic or commercial furniture setting. Like the Bost, the modules can be configured to function as a self-standing TV unit or a sideboard. There are as many options for finishes as with the Bost, so you can be sure to configure the best furniture to fit your interior design colour scheme.
Lauki and Aura modular sideboards and media units
Like the previous two collections, the Lauki is also conceived as a modular system. However, in this case, the intended use is more explicitly oriented towards living room furniture such as sideboards and TV stands. Designed by Ibon Arrizabalaga, the Lauki is a subtle and refined modular system which consists of a set of epoxy-coated steel legs and an assortment of natural wood-veneered or lacquered particle board units. These units come in various sizes and configurations (open, with doors or drawers, etc). Furthermore, they can also be set on top of the metal structure, stacked on each other, or even hung from the wall.
If you add a wide variety of lacquers and veneers, the number of possible configurations is virtually endless. You can create a closed sideboard to store your porcelain dinnerware and fanciest cutlery, a short bedside piece with drawers and space for a bedside lamp, or a luxurious TV unit with enough space to store all your movies and electronics. You can check out more best furniture configurations on Treku’s website.
Designed by Angel Marti and Enrique Delamo, the Aura Collection is another highly refined and modern system focused on sideboards. The basic elements are similar to the Lauki (steel legs and lacqueredor veneered units). However, the modular configuration of the Aura is a bit more granular and even more versatile than in the previous cases. Conceived around a 16cm grid, the particular configuration of accessories and modules of the Aura can be very detailed, resulting in unique pieces every time. Take, for instance, these two different sideboard configurations. Both make the most of the 16cm grid by subdividing it into even smaller modules of 8cm to create horizontal shelves for documents and cutlery, or slim vertical nooks for books or magazines. The same applies to this long TV unit, which not only plays with the different module sizes but also with different colour schemes. Once again, on Treku’s website, you can find a large collection of pictures that show a huge amount of configurations and best furniture.
As you might have already noticed, with modular systems such as these, the number of options to choose from can quickly escalate! The sheer number of configurations can be a bit intimidating, from the different module sizes to the various finishing materials and colours. However, there is nothing to fear since Treku has created DECOTREKU, an online tool developed with design professionals in mind. With DECOTREKU, you can play around digitally with the different collections to design the exact setup to suit any specific set of desires and needs. This is where we come in. We can help you configure the best furniture for any space and use that you might have in mind.
