This Playful Ladybug Shelf Adds Cheer To Vietnamese Libraries

Don’t let the playful design fool you. The Ladybug shelf grew from a serious mission: bringing libraries to underserved children in Vietnam. A local nonprofit, Non Library, tasked the multidisciplinary studio Lab Saigon with creating affordable, engaging, and durable shelves that would protect books from weather and insects in rural areas. Lab conceived a rounded iron unit with open and enclosed shelves, plastic partitions, and painted-plywood cabinet doors. Its red polka-dot pattern and compact dimensions—4 feet high and wide, 1 foot deep—appeal to children. Matching tables, seating platforms, and smaller shelves round out the perky collection, which for now is only available to Vietnamese libraries; the studio plans wider distribution in the future.