French designer Ora Ïto has cut and pieced together over 400 wooden slats to create this staircase, which twists up the Paris offices for one of the world's largest luxury companies.

Ïto was tasked to design offices for the media division of LVMH, the parent company of luxury brands including Louis Vuitton and Dior. The department, which encompasses news brands Le Parisien and Les Echos, has its head offices located on 10 Grenelle in Paris' 15th arrondissement.

The staircase snakes up the four storeys of the office, comprising 429 wooden battens that cradle the underside of the stair and form the handrails on either side.
Curved edges detail each of the slats, so that when placed side-by-side, they form wave-like indents across the stair.
"I wanted the staircase to be the centrepiece of the building," said Ïto. "This creature undulates in the space, shaping and pervading it."
"This huge half-whale and half-snake chimera, snatches you, swallows you up and spits you out at the right floor," he added.

There is also a semi-circular indent on the inner side of the slats that forms a nook for the steel handrail, while LED lights illuminate the undersides of the stair treads.

A large hidden steel beam supports the slats, which are made of a mix of materials so they are as light as possible. Two layers of medium density fibreboard (MDF) are placed either side of a metal reinforcement and then covered in the French oak veneer to match the o...