Color and function

“The colors conceal harmonies and contrasts that interact quite of their own accord,” Vincent van Gogh once commented. Letting colors speak for themselves and thus constantly create new impressions is something that Stefan Diez’s “RGB” furniture system likewise achieves. Together with burgbad, the designer presented this quite extraordinary concept at the very beginning of the trade fair year at the imm cologne in 2019: panels of semi-transparent glass in the basic colors of red, green and blue are hung vertically from the assembly rails. As if you were using a modular building kit, you can thus swiftly assemble volumes, shelves and dividing walls. No visible screws, no annoying details, no frills. “‘RGB’ speaks for itself, without any decoration,” reports Stefan Diez.

The modular system is the first part of the Capsule Collection Burgbad is planning. The focus in “RGB” is on flexibility. Even a child can simply twist the panels into the aluminum rails, or remove them again. The system’s modular structure offers a lot of scope for combining the colored panels of glass absolutely at will. Once all the components are in the desired place, all you need is light to breathe life into “RGB:” Then the shadows cast by the colored surfaces gleam far beyond the unit itself and travel along the wall with the position of the light source.

The impressive interplay of light and shadow you get with “RGB” need by no means be limited to the bathroom. Indeed, the multifunctional modular furniture system fits any living space, be it a corridor, the kitchen or the dining room and can be adapted to fulfil the specific function exactly as required. Side walls and base panels can be inserted, as can drawers and baskets. “RGB” can also boast a top panel made of stone, or a cast mineral washstand. If the item is to have a closed volume, then one of the panels doubles up as the door. This version is a great design tool specifically for small rooms, as the colored surfaces mean all the objects inside the volume seem to be monochrome. A colored veil of red, green and blue gently covers the storage space (or, as new options yellow or dark gray), bringing visual calm with it. All that can then be discerned are the outlines of things. And if the system is to stand on its own in keeping with its solitary character, then the transparency reduces things to the essentials in a pleasantly airy manner. “What interests me is how far you can actually go,” states Stefan Diez. With “RGB,” he has overcome the limits of the bathroom – for Burgbad. At the same time, with this system furniture he underscores a holistic understanding of the home interior which can adapt flexibly to the current rhythm of life.