The Optimus

The Optimus by Thomas Abraham is a morphable furniture piece that transforms in size, shape and purpose. It is in every way an ‘Environment first’ Design, prioritizing sustainability, durability, recycling and reusing material, waste management, reduction of carbon footprint and economically affordable design.

The Optimus can be used as a bookshelf or can be modified easily into three different types of seating with matching tables. It can even be used as a storage unit or an impromptu bed at night, thus being able to convert into almost every necessary home furniture item.

Because it can be multi-used and multi-purposed, it limits the number of furniture in the room thereby providing the most valuable asset in interior design — free space. The designer was influenced by childhood memories where like many working- class Indian households, a family of seven had to share a home of less than 50 square meters. This gives him a unique appreciation of the premium of free space, which the West takes for granted.

The collection is made of sheesham wood (from renewable plantations that are environmentally friendly with low carbon footprints). "Sheesham is one of the most durable and sustainable woods on earth. The tree, native to India, thrives in poor soil, severe drought, high rains, extreme cold, and temperatures over 120 degrees. All of this makes it cheap and easy to grow on large plantations almost anywhere in the world”.

The Optimus was curated to make a difference not only to the design community but also to the outcaste and disadvantaged sectors of the society.
Everything is handmade providing employment to the poorest indigenous peoples while using local materials, reducing the carbon footprint of moving a product around and preserving the ancestral skillsets of craftsmen from the neighborhood — that are in danger of being replaced by factories.
The furniture is priced at 50$ per piece so that it is affordable to the local populace.