The industrial designer behind modular storage for tiny homes

In a workshop on the edge of Perth, industrial designer Elise Warren begins with a question that sounds simple but governs almost every decision in a compact dwelling: where does an ordinary object go when there is nowhere to hide it? A saucepan, schoolbag, folded towel or pair of muddy shoes can quickly turn a tiny home from calm refuge into a crowded passageway.

Her answer is Nook, a modular storage system designed for small houses, studio apartments and homes on wheels. Built from interchangeable components, the range combines open shelving, enclosed cupboards, fold-down surfaces and concealed utility modules. It is intended to change as a household changes, rather than become redundant when a baby arrives, a desk is needed or a home moves site.

Warren’s approach sits between furniture design, spatial planning and product engineering. She has treated storage as part of the architecture, giving each piece a defined relationship with circulation, light and daily rituals. The result is a system that feels particularly relevant to Australian households, where high property costs, flexible living arrangements and a strong appetite for renovation are reshaping ideas of home.

Storage approach	Best suited to	Strengths	Limitations
Freestanding furniture	Renters and larger rooms	Easy to move and replace	Uses valuable floor area
Built-in cabinetry	Permanent homes	High capacity and a clean finish	Expensive to alter
Nook modular system	Tiny homes and changing layouts	Reconfigurable, repairable and compact	Requires careful planning
Open shelving	Everyday objects and display	Makes items easy to reach	Needs regular editing
Fold-down modules	Work, dining and occasional use	Creates a surface when needed	Must be installed securely

A system shaped by Perth living

Warren grew up in a post-war brick home in Perth’s northern suburbs, where the laundry doubled as a workshop and the hallway cupboard held camping equipment, wrapping paper and an unreliable vacuum cleaner. That experience stayed with her during university, when she studied industrial design and began working with cabinetry manufacturers.

“The most useful storage is usually the least dramatic,” Warren says. “It is the part that lets you leave the house without searching for your keys, or cook dinner without moving six other things first.”

That observation led her away from the idea of a single hero product. Nook is made from a compact vocabulary of parts: vertical rails, adjustable shelves, drawer boxes, doors, hooks and panels. The parts share a consistent grid, allowing a narrow tower to sit beside a bed, a shallow cabinet to run beneath a window or a series of modules to divide a living zone without building a full wall.

The system reflects the dimensions of many Australian homes, where wide open-plan rooms often conceal limited practical storage. In Perth, the indoor-outdoor lifestyle creates an additional demand for places to keep shoes, beach towels, hats and gardening tools. Nook’s entry modules and ventilated baskets respond to those everyday transitions rather than treating storage as a purely visual exercise.

Designing for homes on wheels

Tiny homes in Australia do not form a single category. Some are permanent dwellings connected to services, some are secondary residences, and others are built on trailers and moved between sites. Planning requirements vary between states and local governments, while the National Construction Code can apply differently according to a building’s classification and use. Warren designed Nook to be adaptable without assuming that every compact dwelling has the same legal or structural conditions.

For a home on wheels, weight is a serious design consideration. Heavy cabinetry can affect towing, stability and placement of the load, so Nook uses lightweight board products, aluminium connectors and replaceable fronts. The system also includes fixing points that allow installers to secure modules to the structure rather than relying on their own mass.

This is where industrial design becomes less about appearance and more about risk, maintenance and installation. A cabinet must survive vibration on the road, repeated opening and closing, and the occasional uneven campsite. Warren worked with a transport engineer to test door catches and fastening methods, while keeping the components simple enough for a local cabinetmaker to repair.

The range is not marketed as a shortcut around planning approval. In Western Australia, a tiny home’s status, location and connection to services can affect what approvals are required, with council rules differing between municipalities. Warren’s team supplies installation information and encourages owners to speak with the relevant local authority before treating a mobile unit as a permanent home.

The architecture of the everyday

Nook’s most distinctive feature is its attention to movement. A narrow vertical cabinet near the front door can hold bags and charging cables, while a perforated side panel accommodates hooks at different heights. A fold-down work surface becomes a breakfast bench in the morning and a laptop desk in the afternoon. Once closed, it returns the passage to circulation.

Warren describes these components as “pause points”: small places where a household can stop, put something down and continue. The idea is familiar in larger houses, but compact homes make those habits visible. Without a landing space, mail collects on the kitchen bench; without a linen cupboard, towels occupy a chair; without a proper pantry, groceries spread across the floor.

This logic also connects to the wider conversation about small-family interiors. Contemporary’s guide to functional entryway ideas considers how a modest drop zone can reduce visual clutter and support routines. Warren’s system applies a similar principle across the whole plan, assigning a role to awkward corners and underused wall space.

Material choices reinforce that sense of order. The standard range uses durable low-pressure laminate, powder-coated aluminium and linoleum work surfaces, with a restrained palette of warm white, eucalyptus green, charcoal and muted terracotta. The colours are deliberately domestic rather than showroom-like, allowing the modules to sit alongside plywood, recycled timber or existing rental furniture.

From prototype to Australian product

The first Nook prototype was assembled in Warren’s garage from offcuts and hardware-store components. It was less elegant than the final version, but it revealed an important point: compact living requires tolerance. Walls are rarely perfectly square, floors move, and owners want to add or remove parts without dismantling an entire room.

That prototype became a series of full-scale mock-ups tested in a 28-square-metre studio apartment in Fremantle. Warren invited users to perform ordinary tasks rather than simply inspect the furniture. They stored groceries, folded laundry, worked remotely, hosted friends and tried to reach cupboards while another person occupied the room.

The testing exposed a familiar Australian pressure: many small homes need to perform as an office during the week and a social space on the weekend. Hybrid work has made a dedicated desk desirable, but not necessarily permanent. The Nook fold-down module addresses that conflict with a work surface that can be closed, rather than asking a resident to sacrifice the dining table indefinitely.

Local manufacturing was equally important. Warren chose suppliers able to produce short runs and replacement parts within Australia, even when overseas production would have reduced the initial unit cost. This makes the system more expensive than flat-pack imports, but it supports repair, custom sizing and a shorter chain between designer, maker and owner. For a young product line, that relationship is part of the design proposition.

A quieter future for compact interiors

The Nook range arrives at a time when Australian design is paying closer attention to adaptability. Rising rents have encouraged renters to seek reversible solutions, while downsizers and first-home buyers are looking for furniture that can change with a household. In Sydney and Melbourne, a narrow apartment may need to support several activities in a single room; in Perth, a backyard studio or transportable dwelling may need to serve as office, guest room or independent home.

Warren is careful not to present modularity as a cure for inadequate housing. Clever shelving cannot replace generous public space, secure tenure or well-designed apartments. It can, however, make a small footprint easier to inhabit and reduce the amount of furniture that is bought, discarded and replaced as circumstances shift.

That practical restraint has made the collection relevant to designers beyond the tiny-home sector. Architects can specify the modules as part of a joinery package, while builders can use them in secondary dwellings and compact developments. Interior designers appreciate the ability to coordinate open display with concealed storage without commissioning every element as a bespoke cabinet.

The system also reflects a broader local design culture that values collaboration. Warren plans to show new Nook configurations through industry events rather than a conventional product launch. The approach fits the atmosphere of Wine in Design program, where architecture, interiors, making and conversation share the same setting. Her recent presentation was later included in an event recap, alongside projects exploring how Australian spaces respond to changing ways of living.

Nook’s appeal ultimately rests on its modesty. It does not promise to make a tiny home feel large, nor does it disguise the compromises of limited floor area. Instead, it gives those compromises a considered framework: a place for the keys, the workday, the saucepan, the spare blanket and the objects that make a dwelling feel occupied.

For Australian designers and homeowners, Warren’s work offers a useful prompt to look at storage as infrastructure rather than decoration. Explore the Nook system, map the routines of a compact room and choose modules that can be repaired, rearranged and lived with for years.