This Ourou shelving system employs an unusual wood joint. It was developed by French industrial designer Guillaume Bloget, working with craftsman Antoine Rivie`re.

"I wanted to make a wooden shelving system, without nails or screws, completely removable so that it could be stored flat," Bloget explains. "After going back and forth between drawing and prototyping, we found a self-locking solution, capable of locking the assembly as the shelf was loaded."

To explain what you're looking at: The trapezoidal verticals have had round tenons milled into their bottom edges.

The horizontals are where it gets tricky. Each end of the horizontals have had half-lap tabs cut into them that alternate, top/bottom. Where the tabs switch over, a round mortise has been bored.

With two horizontals lapped, the tenons at the bottom of the verticals lock into place. The top of the vertical slots into a mortise in the center of the horizontal above.

"The constructive principle of the shelf is reduced to two parts: the upright and the top. The multiplication of these elements allows the shelf to adapt without limits to the dimensions of the spaces in which it is inserted."

The Ourou isn't a production piece; Bloget developed the design during a stay at France's L'Association Rhizome residency program, which promotes creative research and interdisciplinary exchange. Rivie`re co-founded the association with architect Laure Girardeau.