To be honest, I feel that the latest furniture-that-folds-into-a-box, Ariel Jacubovich's 'Pocket Library', looks kind of crappy when unfurled; but it does raise an interesting point. Most of us keep our books in open bookshelves with each and every book visible 100% of the time, but we only actually peruse the titles for a few brief seconds while looking for reading material. The rest of the time the books are exposed for no reason and gathering tons of dust.

So while I'm not crazy about the final execution--the straps and whatnot--I think Jacubovich's idea that books can be stored in a box that opens up to display the spines (rather than just tossing the books into a regular box that you'd have to dig through) is good, sound thinking. And I like the fact that the box could be used as a coffee table or footstool for that 99% of the time. Ariel, if you're reading this, please keep developing this design! If you hit that next level, I'll be the first in line to buy one.

via treehugger