While a large house can definitely benefit from having a ton of furniture in it, too much furniture can make a small apartment or condo unit look cramped and unsightly. Seoul-based designer HyukJoon Choi has found a nice middle ground by creating a collection of furniture which both is and isn’t there. Dubbed the “invisible”…

Swedish furniture company Ikea has been on a problem-solving roll lately. After working on 3D printed gaming chairs for sensitive rears and the more recent ThisAbles project which features accessible furniture for the disabled, the company now has its sights set on helping those lacking personal space in small urban dwellings. ROGNAN is an upcoming…

Even though most people can’t play a lengthy rally, almost everyone can have a good time playing ping pong (or table tennis, if you live in other parts of the world). The games are fast, the equipment isn’t expensive, and the ping pong table itself makes a nice place to store junk whenever you’re not…

Not as many self-sufficient folks live off the grid like they used to, but the way of living is still as self-gratifying as it has ever been. How cool would it be to say you got your food from your backyard or your new leather shoes from last year’s cowhide? Living on a farm still…

With all the complicated manufacturing technology and automated processes around us nowadays, it’s nice to take things back to basics every now again and remind ourselves how brilliant good-old-fashioned handiwork can be. Traditional Chinese crafter Li Ziqi doesn’t need computers or fancy machines to make furniture; all she needs is a ruler, some hammers, chisels,…

When you think of furniture designs in the far future, you might think of crazy generatively designed stools that hover in mid-air or chairs that push themselves around like a Roomba to fit your Feng Shui taste of the moment. But these designs don’t actually SOUND comfy now, do they? Apart from the unease of…

In an age where humans generate more waste than they know how to dispose of properly, more designers are continuing to make greener choices with their creations. We have kitchen knives made from old skateboard racks, furniture made from bricks made from recycled newspapers, speakers which use plastic bottles as bass boosters, and now… aluminum…

You may look at the headline and ask, “Wait, what does he mean by 25 pieces of furniture from six pieces”? And to this, I say, “It’s easier if I just show you.” VARIA isn’t some math-defining furniture set, but rather set made from six pieces: 2 stools, 2 barstools (one with a removable cabinet…

Humans these days are so dependent on the technologies our ancestors created. From the simple wheel to the high-tech computer, it feels like living without these inventions in this day and age is just downright impossible. What if we didn’t have them in our daily lives? What if we turned back time? Designer Nikolas Bentel…

If you ever get tired of the boring motion of flicking the same light switch on and off again, these rope LEDs might just shed some new light on your living quarters (literally). At first look, StudioKnob’s’s Click Light system appears to consist of only LED ropes—however, the multi-part system also includes two metallic stands…

It would be relatively easy to mistake this bed design as a bunch of thin wood planks stacked atop each other. Apparently tired of sleeping on mattresses held up by squeaky frames, the Polish home designers at Gie El have created a bed whose frame is just as alluring as the prospect of getting a…

We’re all familiar with the old ‘pull the chair out from under an unsuspecting friend or coworker’ trick. But what if said chair did the whole ‘pulling out from under the unsuspecting individual’ thing on its own? Such is the premise behind a new furniture collection from RISD students George Duan and Megan Lee. Teeter…

Don’t believe what other people tell you – rocking chairs are NOT just for old people! In fact, they’re one of the comfiest pieces of furniture out there. Even so, a rocking chair isn’t the most portable seat. Since most of them rely on rockers or springs to operate, they can’t really be disassembled and…

Last year, we brought to your attention Eduard Locota’s DelMare table – an unconventional table that looks like a section of seafloor extracted from a azure blue coastline. With a low center of gravity, different sizes, and a €7,000 price tag (roughly $8,214), you can bet you get your money’s worth for a mesmerizing piece…

From cottages in the middle of the forest to hyper-organized New York City studios, no two workshops are alike. But few—if any workshops—are as gonzo as this setup from Spanish furniture designer Fernando Abellanas. The core of the workspace has all of the common knick-knacks— the chair, the desk, the computer, the potted plants. But…

Few objects are as ubiquitous in the New York City landscape as the humble pushcart. Whether to ferry packages up a skyscraper or transport a piece of artwork down the block, the assistive devices have come to represent the number of goods that flow in and out of the city on a daily basis. It…

As far as furniture design goes, Amsterdam-based industrial designer Sebastian Brajkovic certainly has an interesting backstory. As a child, his interest in the rotation and skewing of objects—ranging from spinning tape decks to car wheels—was so intense, that his parents believed that he may have been autistic. While he is not, his interest in perspective…

When it comes to some of the more exciting developments in product design, oftentimes it comes down to simply looking at new ways of manipulating old materials rather than seeking out new ones. Such is the case with ‘Tenderwood’, an experimental new bench design from Taiwanese industrial designer YenHao Chu. Using a combination of Japanese…

From converting a cheap wood dining room table into the ultimate productivity station to repurposing lamp components into clever light fixtures, there are very few things that cannot be done with IKEA’s expansive product line and a creative mind. Despite a growing community of IKEA Hackers, however, the company has never formally encouraged these hacks—as…

While plenty of exciting developments are happening in the product design space, few are as revolutionary as advancements in generative design. The result of artificial intelligence and the simulation of complex scenarios has enabled modern CAD software to play a participatory role in generating forms based on specific inputs provided by a user. The result…

As one of the most heavily produced and discarded materials in the world, it’s a dang good thing that paper is also so good at being reused, too. While it’s fairly common for discarded paper to be recycled into yet more reams of paper, New Zealand designer Woojai Lee just might have one of the…

While it’s natural to want to have every advanced woodworking tool under the sun available at your disposal – we’re looking at you, Frank Howarth – there is also something to be said about the simplicity of working with the least amount of tools possible, or even having a workshop to work out of at all.…

According to designers Piergiorgio Robino and Andrea Sanna of Italy-based Studio Nucleo, the best way to learn about an object is to construct it yourself. Frankly, we couldn’t agree more. But what about growing an object yourself? Robino and Sanna’s TERRA! Growing Furniture collection might be a good place to start. Having originally appeared at…

There’s more than a handful of reasons why the humble bicycle is an object of obsession for many an industrial designer or engineer. Aside from the zillions of proportion variations, material combinations and CMF studies that go into the design process, it is also one of the few objects that can be designed for users…

Considering how pianos can become the centerpiece of a living area within a home, it’s surprising that we haven’t seen more collaborations between instrument manufacturers and hand-crafted furniture manufacturers. If we did, we’d probably see a lot more pianos like the KIYOLA ‘Made In Japan’ Series KF-10 from Roland and Karimoku Furniture. Designed by Karimoku’s…

While some furniture comes mass produced and can be found in any dumpy chain store, others are absolute works of art ─ and Benjamin Nordsmark’s Contour Cabinet certainly falls into the latter category. His cabinet design was inspired by the layers and curves found in some modern architecture as well as his fascination with the…

Call it a first world problem, but keeping plates hot and drinks cold during a carefully-curated meal can be a problem for many chefs – particularly if they’re upholding a reputation in the elite ranks. First shown at the Salone del Mobile in April, the SmartSlab Table just might be the missing piece in a…

According to Bob Ross, we don’t make mistakes, just happy little accidents. While this is very true, few happy little accidents end up as pieces of designer furniture capable of commanding thousands of dollars apiece. At least, this was the recent scenario for product designer Christopher Stuart of the Indianapolis-based studio LUUR. Stuart, who sells…

While their parents may have invested in furniture sets that are designed to last decades, many of today’s young urban dwellers are turning down purchasing heirloom-quality goods that require moving trucks and in favor of functional and cheap solutions that can be packed easily for a somewhat nomadic and unpredictable lifestyle. For recent Falmouth University…

First invented by German physicist and astronomer Christoph Scheiner in 1603, the pantograph was used for centuries to copy and scale diagrams and text leading up to the introduction of more modern solutions used today. More recently, Brooklyn-based designer Ian Stell utilized the functional mechanism to create a collection of tables and chairs that can…

As anybody who has seen or personally created spin art knows, the power of centrifugal forces can lead to some pretty impressive results. But how might you apply the same psychedelic effect to physical goods? For industrial designer Maor Aharon, this question became the basis for his recent experiment “Matter of Motion” – a project…

For some, the sight of a school lunch tray might bring memories of rubbery fish sticks, generic ketchup and grape juice with strong notes of cardboard – but for artist and furniture maker Kim Markel, the sight of a school lunch tray means one thing only: tasteful opportunity. The late-blooming furniture designer, who left a…

With most flat-pack furniture, material and structural integrity are often sacrificed for lower costs to the consumer and less of a headache for the retailer to ship, store and deliver. While cheaper, this furniture is also much more susceptible to breaking and thus, needs to be replaced more often. Well, it appears that Italian industrial…

Existing somewhere between the land art of Robert Smithson and traditional metal manufacturing processes, Copenhagen-based designer Andreas Konradsen has successfully created what is likely the first chair design to be fabricated using a natural body of water. Konradsen, a recent graduate of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Design, created the “Ripe…

Although blow molding is a highly developed molding technology that’s been around since the late 1800’s to create hollow parts (such as plastic bottles) with uniform wall thicknesses, few have ever thought to use an actual blown-up animal balloon as a final material choice. Yet, for Seoul-based industrial designer Seungjin Yang, the use of balloons…

In most cases, sitting on a flat wood surface for hours at a time isn’t what most people would consider comfortable, but with an innovative new wood block cushioning system, they may be singing to a different tune. The Block System, which was masterminded by the mad geniuses at Los Angeles-based Sitskie Furniture Co, was…

Although the concept of flat pack (or ready-to-assemble) furniture has been in existence for decades, a new generation of designers have been taking on the challenge of designing functional and aesthetically-pleasing furniture pieces that are capable of being broken down into boxes that aren’t just easier to ship and haul – but also reduce many…

With the average individual expected to move nearly a dozen times over the course of their life, you would think that somebody might have figured out by now how to make the moving experience slightly easier – yet many still suffer from the experience of awkwardly hauling their sofas and tables up and down stairwells,…

Between the Evolution Door from Klemens Torggler to the Fletcher Capstan Table from Fletcher Burwell-Taylor, kinetic furniture designs have been slowly finding their way into the mainstream thanks to their mesmerizing shape-shifting characteristics that are the result of some tedious engineering. More recently, New York-based kinetic artist Ian Stell has created what is likely to…

If you’ve been paying any attention to Japan’s Olympic stadium woes in preparation for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 games, then you’ll know that the situation has become a complete mess. The original design of the $2 billion stadium by Zaha Hadid was met with fury by many of the country’s own architects who said it…

Although there are plenty of iconic furniture designs that are so recognizable that even non industrial designers can easily call them by name, few are as recognizable as the original Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, which was released in 1956 by designers Charles and Ray Eames. The chair and ottoman set, which is the result…

Although product designers have been using various additive manufacturing technologies to create rapid prototypes for decades now, few objects have ever been bigger than a traditional consumer electronic product. Thanks to recent developments in the past few years though, the scale of 3D printing – through FDM 3D printing methods, to be exact – has…

Although it’s become a part of everyday life, the use of connecting assemblies through the use of fasteners including glue, nails and screws – particularly furniture designs – isn’t necessarily ‘clean’. While more timeless pieces of furniture might be used for generations and passed down over the years, the surge of cheap flat-pack furniture designs…

It’s not surprising that using additive manufacturing to create large-scale objects – such as chairs – hasn’t really taken off; between the size of a 3D printer needed combined with the cost of filament, you may as well truck over to your nearest Design Within Reach and pick up your favorite Herman Miller or Eames.…

Founded in 2002 by a group of architecture graduates who had recently visited the Milan Design Fair, Nendo has since become an internationally-renowned multidisciplinary design studio that’s been responsible for everything from mug designs for Starbucks and retail design for Camper shoes to ice cream cakes for Häagen-Dazs and furniture designs for Cappellini. Named after…

If you were to take on a fourth-generation Italian company that produces chairs, sofas and other furniture as a client for a new furniture collection, the chances of straying too far from tradition are likely to be somewhat slim. Rather, the focus would more likely be on enhancing existing details and processes while maintaining the…

These days – as sad as it may be – it’s not surprising for somebody to take out a smartphone or tablet during breakfast, lunch or dinner. What used to be “just checking email” or “responding to a text” has now become surfing the web, browsing Instagram and crushing opponents on Words with Friends. After…

Having been working together for over twenty years now, brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec likely have what most would consider a solid sibling relationship. The brothers – who are five years apart in age and are known for carrying distinctly-different personalities – have been keeping busy during the last two decades working on product designs…

Having featured his designs at over 16 international design exhibitions since he started studying product design nearly five years ago, young South Korean industrial designer Seungji Mun has shown no signs of slowing down his hustle. The designer, who attended the Kaywon School of Art and Design in South Korea and graduated in 2012, has…

Times have certainly changed in the “art nouveau” world which was synonymous with harmonizing the various elements of nature with design. Say a warm hello to Canada’s craftsman de extraordinaire Daniel Szohatzky of GLARECUT. Daniel’s take on Tiffany Lamp shades includes staying as far away as possible from the mass produced tradition and adopt a…