Leipzig-based designer Yi-Cong Lu has created a collection that adapts to the way we organise our day.
August 26th, 2011
Presented for the first time at DMY Berlin in early June, Living Tools is a furniture and lighting collection designed to create and change living spaces.
The intention of Living Tools, says Lus, is “to adapt living spaces to the very specific needs of the people.”

The collection consists of 3 components.
Lightboy, a light that can hang or lean on the wall like a broom, or stand upright.


Panel, a multi-purpose object that can act as a partition, a table, a wardrobe or a roof depending on whether it is standing, lying or hanging.



Fade, a curtain partition with moveable bars, to subdivide a room.

Lu aims to “design things for the people, that people can use and adapt to their way of living, their routines, how they use things, how they change things to another context.”
Because we all live and work differently – and sometimes living and workspaces overlap – Living Tools aims to test the limits of conventional architecture by providing completely flexible scenarios.

INDESIGN is on instagram
Follow @indesignlive
A searchable and comprehensive guide for specifying leading products and their suppliers
Keep up to date with the latest and greatest from our industry BFF's!
At 3daysofdesign 2026, AHEC’s immersive exhibition traced the journey of American hardwood from forest to finished product.
The Geelong College’s Sport and Wellbeing Centre ‘Belerren’ designed by Wardle is designed around bringing in natural light. But Shade Factor’s job was to help modulate and precisely control it for the most important competitive moments.
Developed by bangdesign for Stylecraft, Kinn is an Australian-made collection of seating and occasional tables, shaped by modest proportions, practical detail and the changing demands of shared interiors.
Aeron Chair’s new shades, Nightfall and Jasper, arrive with a sense of quiet cohesion – no bells and whistles, no loud technicolour; just two timeless, perfectly versatile near-neutrals. But the new hues aren’t just about colour – and their significance is much more profound than their surface-level subtlety might suggest.
As always, November has seen a lot of exciting new talent on show with Design and Architecture graduate exhibitions.
Situated in the Victorian town of Delacombe, this stadium by Kosloff Architecture brings a civic quality to its locale with its concertinaed walls.
The internet never sleeps! Here's the stuff you might have missed
Claire Delmar, Eva-Marie Prineas, Jason Gibney and Anton Assaad join STORIESINDESIGN to discuss the charm of Denmark’s capital city and their takes on 3daysofdesign 2026.
Arts writer and editor Victoria Hynes reports on the breadth of this year’s Venice Biennale, drawing out highlights from national pavilions including Australia, Morocco, India and the UK.