30 of the Most Creative Bookshelves Designs

At Freshome, we try to find things to inspire you and make your home a better place to live. You can find all kinds of stories here, such as beautiful pieces of furniture, ideas for decorating your home, architecture news, home gadgets, tips and tricks for improving your home, and much more. Here is a collection of the best bookshelves we posted during the past year.

The Equation Bookshelf, designed by Marcos Breder, uses the simple idea of organizing objects in a certain order. As you can see, the design is unique, stylish and original. You can put the books that you use most often (or maybe a framed picture) between the (parentheses) — whichever is the focal point of this bookshelf — and then set others between the [square brackets] and the {braces}.

These Folding Bookshelves are really innovative and practical; they let you arrange the books in an interesting way, as you can see from these pictures. The shelves are made of sturdy cherry wood, but they possess the lightness of rice paper; they can be laid down, stood up, turned 90 degrees and used horizontally or vertically.

This multiple-sized shelf design called the Quad Bookcase can store your CDs, DVDs and books all in one clever product. For even more storage space, units can be joined together. Asymmetry in perfect balance!

Da-Eun Song designed this shelf that spells out “shelf.” It has an very original and modern design. You can’t store too much stuff on this shelf, but it is a great way to decorate a wall; put inside only the books and objects you really like.

This design might look cool, but I don’t think you could stay too relaxed in that space, I’d rather sit in a comfortable chair. The Shelves with a Bench was designed by Stanislav Katz, a designer from Latvia.

As you can see from this picture, a whole wall was used for this interesting bookcase. The result is a very interesting bookcase, at least from my perspective.

Storyline Shelf, designed by Frederik Roijé, is an excellent solution for storing your books in a modern way. Sound finds a physical identity in this beautifully crafted bookshelf. By first processing a word into sound waves, the physical shape is then mirrored in powder-coated steel. Appropriately enough, the word that inspired this lovely piece was “bliss.”

Designed by Doris Kisskalt, the FlexiTube is mobile and can be used as a transparent room partition. These tubs roll around, fit into any corner and change into a sculpture of a shelf. The various elements get support through their velvety surface.

Inside each tube is a shelf for storage that serves as a visual horizontal line. The FlexiTube is available in two sizes and can be combined in any number, either lying side by side or on top of each other. Chocks will support your FlexiTube sculpture if you want to set it up without the support of a wall.

The quasi-hexagonal pattern sets apart the Opus Shelving by Sean Yoo. It’s made of “expanded polypropylene,” the same material used for car bumpers and motorcycle helmet. It is light but strong, can be used indoors or outdoors and is 100 percent recyclable. This unit wasn’t designed specifically to be used as a bookcase; we’ve also seen it used for storing wine bottles, children’s toys, CDs, DVDs and records.

The Rolling Shelf is made from individual pieces of wood held together by fabric on one side. This flexible hinge allows you to create some unique shelving options that are aesthetically interesting. The Rolling Shelf was designed by Catherine Greene.

Magnetique Shelf, designed by Nils Holger Moormann, consists of sheet steel and boxes made of FU (birch plywood). The steel can be mounted onto the wall horizontally or vertically. The backs of the boxes have extra-strong magnets so you can stick them anywhere on the steel that you like.

Sticklebook is an innovative design solution to book storage that creates the illusion of a line of books hanging unsupported on the wall. A space-saving alternative to a regular bookshelf, it comprises an aluminum bracket and strip that grips the cover and pages of paperback books. It’s an interesting way to store your books and will make your friends wonder how they’re attached to the wall.

This interesting shelf is called Bookworm. Designed by Ron Arad, the Bookworm shelf is made of plastic that can be shaped into any form desired. Each upright can support 20 pounds, and the shelf can be mounted in a curved design to increase capacity. It is useful for small places, where a traditional bookcase is too large.

The CAVE Bookcase is a shelving unit with an integrated nook for reading. This is ideal for small places, because the nook saves the space used by a chair. The CAVE provides a private reading space within its form, with the seat height just above the floor; it gives a feeling of hiding from others. Books can be stored on both sides of the CAVE, which does double duty as a room partition.

Prove Shelves are designed by a German company named Creosa. The shelves can be used to display your books, CDs or other items in an interesting way. The storage space is limited, but it’s enough to store the most important things.

Italian studio Icon Design Studio offers D-mension, a system of modular racks created by Nicola Zanetti. It is made of steel and aluminum. The units, shaped like lower-case d’s, can be arranged in a staggered, abstract or symmetrical formation based on your personal taste. This shelving system is a great example of modern furniture.

The Brace Case, designed by Ward Huting, is a shelving unit that uses taut cables to house books, magazines and other flat objects at various angles. The modular system enables the owner to decide how to install the cables. The Brace Case is fully customizable; it is clamped between the floor and the ceiling, and can therefore be tailor-made to any room. This might be an interesting approach to storing stuff, but it doesn’t look very stable.

The Ellipse Bookcase has a beautiful design that will enhance the beauty of any room. The bookcase is made of sturdy elm wood and layers of wood veneer; the shelves are covered with unrolled bamboo. If you have a lot of books, this bookcase is not for you; it is for someone who cares more about how things look like than the books on the shelves.

The Skateboard shelf is a piece of furniture that every skateboard lover would think is awesome. Perfect for students and kids, it provides substantial storage space for books, accessories and even skateboard paraphernalia.

The Ceiling Bookshelf is a great idea for book storage if your space is limited. As you can see, a place that 99.9 percent of people don’t use can be used in a very practical way, and it will save a lot of space in any room. The Ceiling Bookshelf is an idea that can be applied easily; but in order to get a book, you’d have to use a chair or ladder.

At first glance, it appears that arranging books on the Lovely Rita bookshelf could be a real adventure. It can be a single shelf or repeated by combining additional units, becoming a bookcase of any desired length. Thanks to its special shape, it allows two different figures to be designed on the wall, according to which way it is hung.

Tonelli Design is an Italian furniture company that specializes in glass, and these glass shelves are characterized by clean lines and a modern transparent design. Designed by Giovanni Tommaso Garattoni, they have different sizes, allowing you to make all kind of combinations for storing books, DVDs, decor and larger items.

Vintage Shelf is an original shelf created by Jaren Goh Design for Munkii. Reminiscent of a classic bookshelf design within a contemporary form, it allows traditional furniture to fit seamlessly into the modern homes of today: a unique combination of the past and the present.

Lodge is a modular bookcase that obtains a high degree of personalization, since it is formed of blocks of equal height that allow a free composition. It offers a variety of compartments and is suitable for not only books, but also decorative pieces. It also can be used as a room partition.

The Dedalo Bookcase is designed by Marconato & Zappa and manufactured by Porada. The Dedalo has a modern design and can be used as a room divider or placed against the wall. This unique bookcase allows you to store a lot of things in various ways.

This multi-functional shelf design by Yoon-Zee Kim is a playful and creative piece of furniture. You can use it as a shelving system or a seating and a desk. This piece of furniture has a modern look, doesn’t take up much space and is a very clever idea that looks nice.

The Rainbow Bookshelf is a great way to customize your bookshelf with a little bit of creativity — and it’s free and easy to do it yourself! You’ll just have to pay more attention to every book’s cover from now on if you want to reproduce this effect and create your own rainbow bookshelf.

If you are looking for modern shelving, Cosmo Shelves are the ideal solution. These shelves have square and rectangle shapes with rounded corners. They come in black and white, they are easy to mount, and you can arrange them however you want to create a unique art gallery or modern bookshelf.

This Hanging Bookself is an innovative storage design for your books from unal&boler studio unlike anything we’ve seen before. It can’t replace a whole bookcase, but two or three systems could be fun to hang somewhere in your home.

The U Bend Shelf is a great example of an extremely simple design. A single bar that extends from the wall supports your books. The shelf comes in high-gloss powder-coated finishes, and it’s a great way to store books in a small room.