Mantas Lataitis
Table-shelving unit: Babel
Created: 2008
Design studio: LDS Lataitis Design Solutions
While still a student at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, Mantas Lataitis (born 1984) won first place at the Young Designers’ Competition at Salone Satellite in Moscow two years in a row (2007 and 2008). In the 2008 competition, he presented Babel, a multi-functional piece of furniture, which he came up with after experimenting with round components. The cylinders of this piece of furniture get narrower as they go up, creating the impression of a cylindrical pyramid and reminding one of the Tower of Babel. It can be used as a seat, a coffee table, or a shelving unit for books. It is can also be easily transformed: the user chooses the form and purpose of the piece of furniture. Lataitis graduated from the Department of Design at the Vilnius Academy of Arts in 2009. He works as an independent furniture, interior and industrial designer, and participates in national and international exhibitions. When creating new furniture prototypes, he does a lot of sketching and experimenting with materials. He feels that it is important that the furniture can be transformed, and that the height, form and function can change, examples of that being the table Pico (2007), the tray-light Swan(2007), the table Kapri (2008), and the shelving unit Rist (2008).