Product Spotlight
Pira is a shelving system on poles, tensioned between floor and ceiling or fixed to the wall with brackets. Olle Pira, a furniture carpenter by training who went on to Konstfack, designed the original in 1954, and it was shown at the H55 exhibition in Helsingborg in 1955. It had lacquered metal uprights, wooden shelves and no fixing to the wall, so it could stand in the middle of a room. It was used as a room divider and, String notes, it appeared in Mick Jagger's London apartment.
String Design AB, the Strinnings' company, made the original in the 1950s. In 2019 String Furniture, which makes the String System today, asked Anna von Schewen and Björn Dahlström for a contemporary version, and the result, Pira generation two, was shown at the Stockholm Furniture Fair in February 2023. The Monocle Design Awards 2023 named it Best Design Revival. The parts are aluminum poles and joints, a leg and a top lid, sheet steel shelves, wood cabinets, organisers, bookends and a magazine shelf that sit on the shelves, and a mounting kit; Pira is now at Habitus.
Tap a dot to open the piece. Pira poles and shelves in white, with cabinets and a bookend in white oak.
The Pole Is the Idea
Von Schewen is an architect with her own Stockholm studio since 1997; Dahlström is an industrial designer whose studio dates from 1982. They are married, have worked with String since 2011, and designed String Pocket Metal in 2020. Dahlström has said the ambition with Pira was "never to design a retro-style piece of furniture" but to take the idea behind the original and make it taller and wider.
Von Schewen has said the central point of the design is the pole, because it is what makes a tensioned, freestanding shelf possible. The pole is extruded aluminum, powder coated in black grey or white, in eleven lengths from 6.6" to 39.4". Poles join end to end with an anodized aluminum pole joint that String describes as invisible, and String quotes machined tolerances of 0.02 millimetres. A powder coated steel leg attaches to the threaded end and adjusts with the tool provided; its rubber pad protects the floor, and in a floor-to-ceiling run it holds the floor plate, and a top lid closes the other end.
There are two ways to mount it. Floor to ceiling, each upright, a run of poles joined end to end, is tensioned between a plate on the floor and a plate on the ceiling. The assembly kit includes both plates and a cord with a plumb that marks the connection point on the floor. Built this way, the system can reach 124.4", a little over ten feet, and you need poles, joints, a leg and a top lid per upright, plus the floor-to-ceiling kit.
On a wall, brackets hold the pole 6.9" off the wall and can be fixed anywhere along it except where a shelf sits. The maximum height is 121.3", and the wall assembly kit has the parts for a wall-mounted shelf. Either way, a horizontal support beam in powder coated aluminum, made in the two shelf widths and positioned high or low, adds stability.
A Shelf That Wraps the Pole
The original had wooden shelves; the second generation has them in sheet steel, powder coated to match the poles, with a ridge formed into the steel, which String says gives each shelf a capacity of 110 lbs. A section, the bay between two uprights, holds up to 770 lbs. Each shelf comes with a bracket for stability, and the V-shaped gable is carried over from the 1954 design. Von Schewen describes the shelves wrapping around the poles to connect, so that a modular system reads as a single object.
Shelves come in two widths, 27.6" and 35.4", both 13.4" deep and 2.0" high, and a section takes up to seven. Both widths come in black grey and white.
Walnut and White Oak on Steel
None of the wood is fixed to the system. It is placed on the shelf, which is why a cabinet can be moved to another shelf. The cabinet has discreet handles and comes in walnut or white oak with a clear lacquer. It is veneered particleboard with solid wood, 26.1" or 34.0" wide, 12.2" deep and 16.4" high, and it arrives flat packed for assembly.
The 26.1" cabinet fits both shelf widths; the 34.0" cabinet fits only the 35.4" shelf. The organiser is solid wood in the same two widths, so the same fit rule applies, 2.4" high and divided into compartments for the things that cannot stand upright on a shelf.
The bookend is a slab of solid walnut or white oak, 1.2" thick and 7.9" square, and it divides a long shelf into sections. The magazine shelf, launched in 2025, stands on a shelf and holds a coffee table book or magazines. It is 12.8" square and 11.0" high, in walnut or white oak with a powder coated steel bracket in black grey or white, and it arrives flat packed. All four wood pieces are clear lacquered to a low gloss, and String notes that wood is a living material and can change in appearance over time, especially in direct sunlight.
Plan It on the Product Page
String's 3D planner is built into every Pira product page under the Build Your Own button. Lay out the poles, shelves and cabinets, and an Add to Cart button adds the whole configuration. It is a desktop tool, so plan it on a laptop, not a phone. Measure the ceiling height before you start; the eleven pole lengths get you close, the adjustable leg takes up the rest, and a floor-to-ceiling run tops out at 124.4".
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Pira part of the String System?
No. The String System hangs its shelves on wall panels and floor panels; Pira is built on poles, with sheet steel shelves and wood cabinets and accessories that sit on the shelves. Both are String Furniture products, and the company is based in Malmö, Sweden.
Does Pira have to be fixed to the wall?
No. Freestanding, the poles are tensioned between floor and ceiling plates from the floor-to-ceiling assembly kit, and the shelf can stand in the middle of a room. On a wall, brackets hold the poles off the wall, with a wall assembly kit. The maximum height is 124.4" floor to ceiling and 121.3" on a wall.
Which Pira cabinet fits which shelf?
The 26.1" cabinet fits both shelf widths, 27.6" and 35.4". The 34.0" cabinet fits only the 35.4" shelf. The organiser follows the same rule in the same two widths, and the bookend and magazine shelf sit on either shelf. All of the wood pieces are placed directly on the shelf, not fixed to it.
How much weight does a Pira shelf hold?
Up to 110 lbs spread evenly across the shelf, and a section holds up to 770 lbs, with a maximum of seven shelves in one section. The shelves are powder coated sheet steel with an integral ridge, in two widths, 27.6" and 35.4", and each one includes a bracket for stability.
What finishes does Pira come in?
Poles, shelves, legs, wall brackets, support beams and top lids come in black grey or white, and the pole joint is anodized aluminum. Cabinets, organisers, bookends and the magazine shelf come in walnut or white oak, and the magazine shelf's bracket in black grey or white.
Pira runs floor to ceiling under any ceiling up to 124.4", or along a wall. Settle the mounting and the shelf width first; the cabinets and organisers can be moved for years afterward.
If you are planning a floor-to-ceiling run under an awkward ceiling, or a wall of Pira, our design studio can plan it with you.
Start here
