Divide and Conquer

Mark McMenamin -- Interior Design, 1/1/2009 12:00:00 AM

A short drive from the heart of the HighPoint Market, the inaugural CA Boom Eastshow—the newborn sister of the West Coast expo—presented 20 progressive manufacturers in a century-old hosiery mill. It's there that we happened upon Animavi, a furnishings source launched in 2007 by Darin Grobe and Laurie Schmidt.

For two indoor-outdoor dividers, Schmidt and designer Brian Polster relied on the same minimalist aesthetic and the same materials. The seven panels, made of 3form resin or Plyboo bamboo, are always 7 feet high. Bases are handcrafted steel—but that's where the differences start.

With the Artisan screen, seven separate sections comprise the clear-coated base . They're attached with steel cable or solid steel, so you can pull them apart to increase total width from 6 to 7 feet. With the Box, you insert the panels into a single open-sided oblong 4 feet wide. It's finished in black oxide or with line grain. 213-221-7146; animavi.com. circle 418