Tube Bookends are a minimal set of bookends created by Toronto-based designer Maha Alavi. A minimal and utilitarian approach to desk and shelf organization, Tube Bookends are equal parts sculptural and practical. Made from bent stainless steel tubing, this design takes full advantage of this material by using it both functionally and aesthetically, and creating clever storage areas for everyday tools of productivity, with dedicated spaces for pens, books, phones, and various other desk essentials.

Tube Bookends were designed for the Work/Life exhibition hosted by Umbra for Toronto Design Week 2021. The brief centered around the ways in which work culture has evolved through the pandemic, and the changing attitudes of the relationship between work and home. Since the workspace has shifted to something that now exists entirely in our everyday context, the question Alavi had in her head while considering the brief and going through the initial ideation process was what is the minimum object requirement needed to shift the perception of how a space is meant to be used?