the.com/etagere
the bookshelf that went to finishing school and refuses to hold anything heavy
means An etagere is a piece of furniture with a set of open shelves, often freestanding or wall-mounted, designed to display ornaments, curios, or other decorative trifles.
from Straight from French étagère, meaning 'a set of shelves,' built from étage, 'a floor' or 'storey' (as in the levels of a building) — so an etagere is literally a little stack of storeys for your knickknacks. French étage traces back through Old French to a Vulgar Latin root *staticum, tied to stare, 'to stand.' The word arrived in English in the 19th century, carrying its accent and its airs along with it.
- french roots
- Name comes from etage, meaning floor or story
- open design
- No backing or doors, all display by intent
- victorian darling
- Crowded with curios in 1800s parlors as status flex
- corner cousin
- Triangular versions wedge artfully into wasted angles
- form over function
- Built to show off objects, not store them
baker street etagere — victorian brass and glass shelving unit from london, circa 1880s, iconic in antique furniture markets