Create this clever unique one-off piece of furniture to complement your home. This design entitled ‘Hoddle Totem’ encompasses the duality of design and functional furniture piece.

‘Burb Mechanics’ is an art exhibition created by Nüüd Studio, celebrating the iconic materials and distinct design quirks of the Australian suburbia.

Created from everyday household materials, this innovative design highlights timber in its many applications.

Art Meets Functionality

Unleash your inner artist with a combination of everyday household items, creativity, and a bit of DIY know-how. You can create a one of design piece inspired by Australian artists, Nüüd Studio.

This unusual piece is not only aesthetically pleasing but has extensive functionality. This shelf can be displayed as an art piece on its own, a bookshelf, or the perfect display for your indoor plant collection.

Create Your Own Masterpiece

You can make your very own ‘Hoddle Totem’ shelving from simple household building materials.

Nüüd Studio used an array of Porta products and moudlings to create with one-off piece. The frame is made from Porta timber moulding profiles: Dowel and Scotia.

Porta Dowels can be used as handrails, curtain rods, towel rails, they can also be used to create architectural design features in the home or commercial project with a range of finishes. This timber has excellent staining qualities, is warm and is relatively dense and resilient.

Porta's Scotia is a scolloped rounded-corner profile that fits snugly into an interior corner of two surfaces. However, in this instance has been used creatively as an aesthetic design choice. This timber is also warm, dense, resilient and has excellent staining qualities.

Pro timber tip: ensure the timber is prepared with a light sand and cleaned before applying the finishing coat.

In this piece, Porta’s Scotia is a scolloped rounded-corner profile, and in this example the curved profile is used vertically to create texture, whilst Porta’s Dowel is used to provide vertical structure.

This one-off shelving piece is made from Porta Forescolor MDF, an exclusive panel due to its coloured core. The base is made from a turfgrid paver, making it sturdy and giving it an industrial look. The timber frame is set out using the permeable paver grid.

To make the project you will need: furniture dowels, wood glue, saw, drill and sandpaper.

The Porta timber products featured in this project are available from all major timber and hardware stores. Find your nearest stockist.

Products used:

  • 9mm PORTA FORESCOLOR MDF 
  • 18mm PORTA FORESCOLOR MDF
  • 30mm Porta Dowel
  • 30mm Porta Soctia
  • Turfgrid paver

View the DIY guide to this weekend project below.

View Spec Sheet