impact – there being so little to see. The materials imposed their own laws and I did nothing more than follow their lead. Any more from me would have been unnecessary, any less material and the structure would have been fatally compromised. All its component parts are interdependent. If a single element is removed, the whole structure would lose coherence and risk falling apart. Construction of Des étagères was dictated by the specific functional capacity of its mode of assembly and not by any subjective aesthetic decisions. The shelves designed themselves; they were not the result of any design I made. Each shelf is attached above or below to its neighbour and it is this sequence that contributes to the stability of the structure and the load it must bear. Height between shelves depends on whatever needs to go on them – in this case, books and objects. Distance between the uprights is also governed by functional considerations, such as ease of removing and replacing books or rearranging items on the shelves. In fact, the uprights act as bookends. As you can see, not drafting designs is far removed from renouncing the use of a pen to take notes or even make sketches. I regularly communicate this way when working with others.