Poliform Symphony sideboard

An ellipse is harder than a box

A rectangular sideboard is a set of flat panels. An elliptical one has to carry a continuous curve through its fronts and around its ends, which means shaped panels, a veneer laid so the grain follows the curve, and joints that stay invisible where two curves meet. That work is most of the price.

In a room it behaves differently from a box. An ellipse has no corners to catch a hip in a corridor, it reads as an object rather than as built in storage, and it looks equal from every side, so it can stand away from a wall in an open plan room.

Because the shape carries the design, the material choice decides everything else. A pale wood makes the piece quiet; a dark one makes it a centrepiece. There is no third option here, which is unusual and makes the decision easier than it looks.

As storage it is ordinary in the best sense: doors, shelves, the usual arrangements. Tell us what goes inside it and where it stands, and we quote the configuration rather than a catalogue line.

No decoration anywhere. The whole design is the curve and the joint.