Dividing Lines
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Iris Kadouri’s slatted screens are completely see-through yet also divide a room into two new spaces – not unlike the equator. Which is exactly why the Israel-based designer named her creation Mitad Del Mundo, Spanish for “middle of the world” as well as the spot where the equator passes through Quito, Ecuador. “The equator is an invisible border,” she explains. “The reason for using a partition in a room is to create two areas for different uses, so that people can communicate through the partition (unlike through walls) and still have their privacy.”
Designed for use both at home and the office, each custom-made screen ($6,800) stands at just over 5 feet and rolls on casters for easy mobility. The delicately striated veneer has a woodlice feel, and comes in three finishes: magenta, yellow, and red.
The screen’s most striking feature, however, may be its illusory quality: its linear pattern bulges into circles that, when viewed from different angles, appear to be moving, “just like the zodiac.” Another nod, then, to the equator: when peering into the night sky over Mitad Del Mundo, stargazers can see the band of constellations wheeling directly overhead.