The Slide paper trays are an approach to a document storage system that can be easily expanded and transported in an office space, while being quick and cost effective to produce. This product was developed with Bodega Design studio as part of a collection of office space items.

The design briefing for this project was to create a stackable system of paper trays that could be produced with a simple sheet of metal, using only laser cutting and CNC sheet metal bending as the manufacturing process. This constraint was the defining design inspiration, as it led me to explore different mechanisms of stacking and interlocking trays.

The final design proposal was chosen due to the simplicity of its stacking mechanism, as the individual trays slide into each other in an intuitive way and securely stay in place, while keeping a sleek and clean appearance. This design takes advantage of the dimensional precision of the laser cutting and cnc bending process, as the positions and the angles of the bent flaps need to be very accurate for the stacking mechanism to work.

Many aspects of the design of this project were optimized to achieve ease of use out of the simplest elements, such as the handles in each of the stacks, which allow the user to easily transport, and reposition the trays, or the flange in the front part of each stack which gives the whole system a slight angle, ensuring that objects stored stay in place.

Each stack of the system is produced through a process of laser cutting, sheet metal bending and powder coated painting, without the need of any reprocessing or assembly.