Shelving units often take up space but are intentionally integrated with the rest of an interior design, intended to fade into the background like walls, floors and ceilings often do. There is no reason, however, not to let them have an artistic life of their own through physical complexity and the layering of color and graphics on and around them.

Maria Yasko has developed three shelving unit designs that are as much works of three-dimensional wall art as they are functional storage spaces for books and other odds and ends. In this first example she has added a two-dimensional wall motif that contrasts with the geometric regularity of the central shelf structure.

In this one, the design is self-contained  within the unit but still manages to stretch beyond the typical borders of a bookcase, with a meandering curve winding out from the core and making its way across the ceiling above.

Finally, in a more literal yet still very abstract way she playfully toys with the concept of a tree in this set of three adjacent shelving units, making each individual piece a part of a larger structural, sculptural and graphic whole.