Most factories are open-plan and industrial interior design maintains that principle of openness, freedom and ease of access through the use of open kitchen shelving, something not necessarily common in an age of minimalist concealment and the elimination of clutter.

Having open shelving, particularly in a room that would otherwise feel overly cramped with cupboards, can be a design revelation, one that our 15 years of experience working with industrial spaces and materials can help you make the most of.

If you are adopting the fundamental traits of industrial interior design at home, adding open shelving is a necessity. However, it is not just about installing shelves but ensuring that their design, textures and tone fit the organic mechanical motifs present in an industrial loft.

Why choose open shelving? To explain it, we need to first explore why industrial interiors are open by design, where and how you use open shelving in different parts of an industrial-style loft, and look at some top tips to give open shelving structure amidst creativity.

Industrial interior design is the embodiment of the concept “form follows function”; the big loft spaces, high ceilings, exposed brickwork and inherently open-plan design emblematic of industrial interior design emerge not as a design choice but a business necessity.

Before artists and bohemians transformed them into living galleries, warehouses and factories were initially designed with a structural focus in mind, based on the principle of streamlining the assembly process as much as possible.

Every additional journey taken, door opened, corner rounded, and step between each step of the process was wasted energy, which meant that warehouse floors were open plan with tall buildings, with the priority being functionality, safety and communication.

Why waste space hiding building elements unless you had to for safety reasons? The building was not designed to be showcased in magazines; they were designed to print them en masse or produce the paper needed to print them.

This means a focus on open zoned spaces rather than partitioned rooms, huge windows rather than making privacy a priority, and open storage such as shelves and bookcases are the norm compared to cupboards or wardrobes.

Open shelving, particularly using chunkier, longer wooden planks reminiscent of the scaffold boards used in construction and maintenance of the old warehouse, looks incredible in an industrial loft setting and provides incredible avenues not only for storage but also decoration.

In one respect, it goes without saying that an industrial setting benefits from industrial-style storage and shelving; many industrial lofts were factories, warehouses or a combination of the two.

Warehouses inherently rely on open shelving in order to function properly, but as historic industrial buildings have been repurposed into living spaces and now a cosmopolitan design language of its very own, open shelving has taken on a very different purpose.

Here are just a few of the reasons why open shelving and industrial interior design go hand in hand.

Greater Perception Of Space

Industrial interior design, alongside similar aesthetic languages such as mid-century modern and Scandinavian minimalism, is built around maximising light through clean lines and providing an opening for light to spread through every corner of the room.

This is not really possible through closed shelving but is something that open shelving is perfect at accomplishing, taking advantage of the varying silhouettes of items on the shelves combined with the unique textures that you only get with reclaimed wood.

As well as this, if you have ducts, pipework or exposed brick, all three of which are quintessential industrial design elements, using open shelving means that you are not obscuring a beautifully natural design feature of your home.

Canvas Of Self-Expression

A wardrobe or cupboard is remarkably limited in how you can design and decorate around it without creating an overly cluttered finish, whilst open shelving becomes an ideal way to express yourself and showcase the trinkets that capture your complete authentic self.

Industrial interior design is about the latter above anything else; it is a celebration of truth to materials, of finding the beauty in imperfection, in learning that the spaces designed not necessarily to be lived in can become incredibly comfortable homes.

Whether you use your shelves for plants, plates or picture frames using dedicated scaffold shelving kits, open shelving allows you to showcase art, sculpture or personal mementoes on a backdrop of breton brut, brushed steel and beautiful exposed brick.

Open Organisation

Industrial buildings have always been designed with open organisation in mind, where everything you need is easily visible and easily accessible, and this can make your industrial loft feel more like a communal, collective space.

A danger with more minimalist styles is that there is a perverse incentive to hide everything about yourself away from your home rather than organise and curate your story, resulting in elegant but utterly sterile showrooms.

Relying predominantly on open shelving gives you the space to be you, both in terms of functionality and access to the objects you need on a daily basis, as well as more leeway to make aesthetic imperfection artistic authenticity.

The best way to think about open shelving in your home is to put it into practice, and here are some ways to design around its extensive use in your home.

Adopt The Three-Five-Seven Rule

The golden rule when styling shelves is that everything should be placed in thematic groups of three, five or seven, as this creates a central focal point which the eye is invariably drawn to before it spreads out across the rest of the shelf.

Use Books For Subtle Colour And Structure

Besides creating elegant bookshelves, shelving benefits from using the interesting colours and textures of books to create height and accents for your shelving.

Typically, it is best to have one upright book alongside two or three flat books, with an object such as a bowl placed on top to complete the display.

Use Trays, Bowls And Glasses To Structure Smaller Items

A tray or rustic charcuterie board is an excellent, elegant platform to house smaller items on a shelf, maintaining order with smaller items such as candles whilst allowing for the personality of the homeowner to shine.

For the best results, opt for a different finish between the container you use and the shelf itself.

Are you ready to translate authentic industrial design into character-rich interiors? Take a look at our reclaimed and new scaffold board shelves, available in several different configurations to provide a taste of bohemian life to any home.

The Scaff Shop works with customers on many levels. Some need more time, tools, or necessary skills; no matter the reason, you can purchase everything you need, and it can be delivered to your door as a finished product. Some customers have the time, skills and tools that may want to build your corner desk, and that is cool with us, too! What we have offered below is a list of the products required to make your perfect corner desk.

First up are the Scaffold Boards. One thing to remember when buying reclaimed scaffold boards is that they have previously been used. The life-altering wear and tear changes to those boards make them unique compared to new boards. For this, you will need four six-foot boards and two two-foot boards. Once the boards have been cut and joined together using biscuits, glue, and clamps, they will make the desktop. Sounds easy. Well, I'm sure there will be some sweat and tears before you finish.

Once the desktop is joined, you can start the finishing process by rubbing it down and selecting the type of oil you want to use to finish your desk. The last part is deciding what legs you want to use with your desk, which depends on the look you are going for.