"Instead of a straight shelf, we wanted some geometry," said Carol Egan, an interior and furniture designer in Manhattan, explaining how she came to create the single-twist shelf. The walnut piece is hand-carved, yet it looks sleek and modern. Its twist catches the eye.

Last year, after modeling it using 3-D software, she hired Thomas W. Newman, a cabinetmaker in Hoboken, N.J., to build the 8-foot-long, 12-inch-deep shelf. Its edges are beveled to three-eighths of an inch, so that it looks very thin -- almost too thin to hold a vase, let alone several vases filled with flowers. But where it meets the wall, the wood is three inches thick and held in place by long metal pins attached to a plate in the wall.

The shelf is $12,000; others, in acrylic or walnut, are $3,000 to $15,000. Information: (212) 671-2710 or caroleganinteriors.com.

First Published: April 6, 2012, 4:00 a.m.