El El is a series of prototypes designed by Tokyo-based studio Siin Siin for GAID. El El is a furniture system using FRP grating and ready-made hardware, proposed for a multi-purpose space GAID. This project is also an attempt to reconstruct my perspective on architectural and urban details on a furniture scale, a system that utilizes the square grid to fulfill a variety of forms and functions. The original use of FRP grating is as a building material, such as an exterior wall of a commercial building or a balcony fence, and the most obvious use is as a drainage cover. The hardware used in this project came from a variety of sources, including grating fixings, clamps for putting up bird prevention nets, wire rope winches, marine rope hardware, knurled knobs, and long cap nuts. They are powder-coated in the same color to make them equivalent, acting as if they were originally for these pieces of furniture. GAID has a fluid use as a store/gallery/office/warehouse that opens irregularly. Although no architectural alterations were made, the furniture was placed in a parasitic way in some parts, such as the hanger racks hung with wire ropes and fixed to beams with clamps, and the desk fixed to a pillar. The hanger racks can be raised to the ceiling by hand winches, and the space left open by this can be used for exhibitions and other purposes.
Photography by Yukihito Kono