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Clothing and accessories become works of art when placed inside Cover Freestanding, a surprisingly sexy storage solution.

Cover Freestanding takes the simple, isolated clothing rail and amps it up with shelves and drawers, encased in aluminum-framed glass that incorporates internal lighting. For lofty spaces lacking essential bedroom storage, it seems like a deceptively obvious solution. Yet veteran Italian glass-maker Rimadesio got there first with Cover, launched in 2014, with the support of Italian designer Giuseppe Bavuso, who refined the details.

Rimadesio moved into the untapped market of understated architectural dividers decades ago, devising a modular vitrine for clothing that performs multiple functions. In doing so, the company achieved the near-­impossible: making storage look sexy.

The customizable configuration looks light as a bubble, but with a sturdiness you’d expect from an architectural unit. The cleverness comes from the slender vigour, adjustable LEDs, and magnetic doors that latch into place silently. While glass and aluminum are hardly innovative, here the glass can be finished with 80 different looks: transparent, smoky, frosted or painted. The signature eColor system employs a water-based, corrosion-resistant coating that uses eco-­compatible materials and technologies, and the die-cast aluminum is 60 per cent recycled.

Customers can mix and match finishes, with one side transparent and the other opaque, for instance. Once the exterior is finished, the interior can be easily reorganized with an invisible system of locking components. With this system, clothing and accessories are elevated to works of art, pieces in an evolving, curated collection. For many of us, it may be the most extraordinary thing to happen in the bedroom this year.

About the team: Giuseppe Bavuso is an architect and designer based in Lombardy, Italy. His firm works in the biomedical equipment field as well as the furniture industry, with such clients as Poliform and Ernestomeda. Rimadesio, established in 1956 (in Lombardy), has won numerous awards for its ultra-modern glass doors, sliding panels, shelving units and walk-in wardrobes.

What the jury said: “When you place items in a glass box they merit attention, so it’s very clever to apply that kind of presentation to a wardrobe system.” Omer Arbel

­Designer: Giuseppe Bavuso ­

Manufacturer: Rimadesio, Giussano, Italy

Winner: Furniture Systems and Collections
2016 AZ Awards Winner: Best Furniture System

Clothing and accessories become works of art when placed inside Cover Freestanding, a surprisingly sexy storage solution.

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