Float Shelf Makes Us Want to Buy an iMac

I absolutely love design that is so simple, but so massive in the functionality it provides. In general, a shelf is just about the most simple, practical addition to any room you can get – I have no idea why we don’t just have shelves for walls instead of walls. Too far? Maybe. But a nice looking shelf isn’t limited to living on a wall. At least, not any more.

The Float Shelf is the third successful Kickstarter project from Steve King and Prism Design. The Float Shelf is exotically minimal, but if you’re an owner of an iMac or Apple display, you’ll see the practicality of it right away. At least, that’s what people are telling me. I don’t own an iMac, but the Float Shelf makes me want to buy an iMac. Yeah, I’m looking for excuses. This shelf will save me time AND looks good.

The design is so simple. The anodized aluminum plate has a single notch that slides down, wraps around and sits perpendicular to the Apple display stand. It comes in two sizes: 6.5″x 18″ (for iMac and Cinema displays) and a larger 6.5″ x 22″ (for larger iMacs and Thunderbolt displays) with both capable of holding up to 10 lbs. Though it’s simple and minimal, the thought and effort put into the design had some complex challenges. On the design, Steve tells us:

A big design challenge was prototyping the bracketless attachment because the double-tapered faces on theFloat Shelf’s mounting channel are very challenging to fabricate using CNC. I was able, eventually, to make a proof-of-concept prototype using wire EDM, and it was very exciting to see the mounting concept work as conceived on the very first prototype shelf made by EDM, and I must confess that I was a bit surprised by how solid, strong, and stable the attachment proved to be as I was anticipating there would be some play or wobble to the shelf; however, the shelf attachment is super strong, tight, and stable.

The Float Shelf was fully funded in just a matter of days through their campaign on Kickstarter, crossing the $25,000 goal and heading up with a full month and change to go. At this point, early bird pricing is still available at $75 for either size. Pledges for 2, 5 and 10 shelves are also available, with shipping and delivery of the Float Shelf estimated for April 2017.