Amazing Furnitures & Interiors 310 (More) Pieces of Clever Transforming Furniture: From Tetris Tables to Rooms in a Box
(Check out our complete collection of Unusual, Creative and Transforming Furniture.)
Why is transforming furniture so alluring? Does it appeal to our sense that innovation is progress, the fact that fewer materials for more uses is sustainable or simply a return to the childhood love of things that we can actively change and shape as we wish? Whatever the reason, these designs range from humorous and impractical to jaw-droppingly cool. Be sure to scroll all the way down: the best (pictured briefly above) has been saved for last and check here for more unusual urban furniture.
This comfy number is not one nor two but three pieces of furniture in one: a sofa, lounger and a chair. A good deal of transforming furniture looks or feels better in one configuration or another, but this three-in-one by Roel Verhagen-Kaptein is appealing in each of its transformations.
Normally we think of convertible furniture as transforming from one useful thing into something else with a practical function. These simply elegant folding chairs by Studio Dror collapse into something you might actually want to use simply for wall decoration: a simpler refined furniture solution than sticking cheap folding chairs back into the closet.
Next time you go on a picnic with some friends you may want to grab a second basket, the so-called Mealbox by Igland Design. Fourteen puzzle pieces slip out of this simple container and assemble into a table and chairs that seat six - a humorous variation on fast food.
Compact, clever and portable, the Fence Chair by Alain Berteau is a simple blend of traditional picket fence vernacular and sustainable modularity. The repeated use of a single simple form allows for compact shipping and the seats can be split or joined as needed.
A storable box or subtle side table by all appearances, this articulated shelving system by Bertrand Pinceman folds out into a rather nice bookcase. It is designed to work both on its side and upright.
Marta Antoszkeiwicz’s design is not like most transforming furniture that relies on clever bends, twists and hidden tricks to work. This simple table and chairs set relies only on sliding pieces under and out from under one another. The result, though, is impressive: chairs that go well with the table in either configuration and don’t look like extra elements.
Similar in principle to a Murphy bed (which folds down from the wall when needed) this cabinet dining room set has everything one needs to sit down to a comfortable meal and then slides back into place. Neat as this complete furniture solution sounds, though, it isn’t clear how much space is needed behind-the-scenes to make it work.
Yellow might not be the best color, but you have to appreciate this simply brilliant Tetris-based Chairs + Table design. Aside from the sofa, bed, and chairs-and-tables configuration these also pack up nicely to be stored. The material is designed to be soft enough to be comfortable but resilient enough to work as an eating or work surface. Also, one could imagine that, with sufficient pieces, other creative furniture constructions would be possible.
We’re all familiar with beds that fold out from sofas, but few do so as easily and elegantly as this one by Flou. In Modernist tradition, the form of the bed is also partly visible in the form of the couch with each fold-out layer articulated individually.
Now this one is particularly strange: a stove and kitchen workspace that doubles as a comfortable chair? An odd combination to be sure, but it is a step in an interesting direction. This kind of out-of-the-box thinking could result in furniture that not only serves a similar function to its counterpart but that would have different purposes in various rooms around a house.
Would you believe that everything shown in the above image can be fit into a box that is less than 3 feet by 4 feet? The creative furniture within can be carried, unpacked and rapidly assembled by just two people. It probably goes without saying but: the box itself is also reused in the final results. Check out the video below to see the boxed room in action.
As cities become denser, we all find ourselves wishing we had more space at times, or wanting to make better use of the space we have. Purchasing changeable furniture that adapts to different uses is one solution to this problem. The above example of the Safe Bedside Table is a more funny than useful. However, the transformable, convertible and collapsible designs below are impressively practical.
FlexibleLove is an amazing piece of furniture that is ecological, adaptable and highly practical. Made of minimal and sustainable materials, this piece converts from a single-person chair into a flexible bench seating up to sixteen people. Don’t believe it? Watch the video.
Tagei is a remarkably beautiful piece of craftsmanship, and somehow manages to be an attractive piece of furniture both when collapsed and extended. One could easily imagine using this as a side table and extending it into a bench for gatherings.
Scheren Regal presents an interesting shelving option. This piece would be highly portable for moves and could be used as a side table until more storage is needed, with an elegant but engineered look typical of good German design.
Futaba is a brilliantly simple design solution, and converts with amazing ease. The quick-and-easy method of transformation makes this one of the more practical transforming items listed here.
ChairLibrary is perhaps a little garish but would certainly work for people whose houses are already overly filled with books. The storage spaces make good overflow storage, at least, as a stop-gap measure before buying more book shelves.
Mogga is a remarkably elegant chair that turns into a table. The actually mechanical means by which it transforms is as impressive as the fact that it can so easily convert from one use to another.
Ali is a neat and simple piece of furniture that can be configured in a variety of ways. It can be folded and stored, used as a long sofa or pair of love seats or even folded flat into a bed. This seems a much more streamlined solution than many hide-a-beds.
Doc is another amazing couch-and-bed solution, but as an added bonus: this one converts into a bunk bed for two. This piece seems like a great solution for people who have visiting friends or farmily who bring children on frequent visits.
Fletcher Capstan Tables are beautifully designed and as expensive as you might expect. Still, one has to weigh the cost of one’s furniture versus the cost of more real estate. Either way, it is impressive to see these in action. Know of other collapsing, converting or transforming furniture? Feel free to share below!
More Creative Furniture for Cramped Urban Living: 20 Pieces of Ingenious ‘Flat Pack’ Furniture
(Check out our complete collection of Unusual, Creative and Transforming Furniture.)
[Above: flat pack book case design by Jeremy Grove]
Flat pack furniture is exactly what it sounds like: furniture that starts out entirely as sheets of wood, metal or even cardboard. In addition to being clever and simply aesthetically awesome, flat pack furniture is also eco-friendly and highly creative. Without further ado, here are 20 more examples of incredibly compact and transforming furniture for cramped urban living.
Designer Keiji Ashizawa has applied flat-pack design principles in developing his sleek set of furniture objects including the above chairs and stools. Like giant versions of 3D toy puzzles or model cars, there is a playful aspect to these powerful industrial-produced sturdy-yet-elegant metal designs.
RawStudio is the brainchild of Nick Rawcliffe, a talented designer with an impressive resume. He studied at the Bauhaus and Royal College of Art before moving to work in Japan. His furniture work is as eclectic as his background, which is difficult to pin down stylistically between his studio’s slotted and hanging chairs.
In the same puzzle-piece tradition of the above examples in wood and metal David Graas’s stool and chair designs take the best possible advantage of the strengths of cardboard to create sturdy furniture that also has a strangely unique style and come in a compact form.
The desFurniture group designs impressively simple pieces of furniture that “push the boundaries of efficiency while maintaining craftsmanship.” Much of their work is created out of a single sheet of plywood and requires no fasteners, adhesives or complex tools. These combine aspects of portable, elegant, simple and ecological furniture design. Shown above are a single-panel lounger, stool, chair and bookcase.
Similar in concept to desFurniture, students of the Ryerson School of Furniture Design created a series of creative furniture pieces each from a single 4×4 foot sheet of plywood. The above desk, laptop stand and tables were each created using this strictly limited amount of material and demonstrate an impressive range of possibilities.
So now that you’ve seen the possibilities of flat-pack design, why not build outsdie the box with a cool flat-pack house? Talk about a great conversation piece! Alternatively, for something more within reach, how about a creative flat-pack book shelf
(Check out our complete collection of Unusual, Creative and Transforming Furniture.)
Lacking some library space in your crowded house or apartment? Our original 20 distinctive ways and places to house your books featured a number of ecological, flat pack, transformable and portable furniture solutions. This follow-up furniture selection has everything from cozy chairs and strange figures to suspended hangers and adjustable modules for you to fit your favorite books into. Whether or not you are already settled on the perfect way to use your living space, we present those designs now for your leisurely perusal as both functional and entertaining pieces of unique urban furniture.
The Bibliochaise: This “book chair� simply integrates a series of bookshelves around a place to sit, making it perhaps the perfect reading chair. The shelves come in a variety of colors, as do the cushions. You even have the option of upgrading to leather cushions if you feel a splurge coming on.
Alog Modular Shelving System: Looking to make a visual statement with your bookshelves? You may have found what you’re looking for with this system, which allows you to reconfigure the shelving modules into hundreds of different configurations. This bookshelf is proof that functionality, attractiveness and the possibility of customization are far from mutually exclusive.
Suspension Shelf: This extremely novel shelf uses a row of straps from which your books hang until you’re ready to pick them. Apart from being extremely interesting to look at, the aligned tops of the books can be used as a storage space of their own. When not in use, the suspension shelf takes up almost no room at all – a practical feature for a cramped urban domicile.
Geometric Modular Shelving: Somewhere near the zenith of customizable shelving stands these wall-mounted geometric shapes. As you will decide for yourself the nature of their arrangement on your wall, the possibilities are limitless. If you love to express yourself, these bookshelves could be an excellent way for you to personalize the place you call home.
Rolling Shelves: This extremely useful design allows you to roll away portions of a shelf to accommodate any objects too tall to otherwise fit between shelves. Available in the finish of your choice, these shelves could be made to match any decor and would certainly provide a striking way to store your books along with the occasional vase or unruly bottle.
Multi-functional shelf: With one simple curved line, this unusual design can outfit your abode with your choice of shelving, a desk or a stool to perch upon — depending on your mood or your greatest convenience.
UBend: Simpler still than the multi-functional shelf above, the UBend is a simple, single bar. If you didn’t know better, you might mistake it for a towel bar, but the bend in the bar provides a slot for a book to rest, and this book in turn acts as a book end for the rest of your books to lean against. You don’t have to order it in the pictured Punky Brewster color, but there’s something oddly comforting in knowing that you can.
Magnetic Modular Shelving: Truly an eye-catcher, this magnetic shelving is composed of strips of magnetized sheet steel affixed to the wall along with magnetic-backed boxes which can be arranged on the steel in any manner you deem appropriate. Since you can mount the steel — which serves a track for the functional boxes — in any orientation you choose, and you can mount as many strips of steel as you need, the design possibilities are without end.
Cell Shelf: One of the more unique pieces of any kind of furniture you’ll see, lighting will be key if you choose to display this unusual shelving unit. Though it may border on the impractical, these shelves are gorgeous enough that you might not even want to use them to store books.
Angled Bookshelf: Leave it to a former aeronautical engineer to come up with this chic and handy twist on a common bookshelf. The slanted shelves render bookends obsolete while the bare, crisp lines ensure that functionality need not come at the expense of form.
Stacks and “The City”: These versatile vertical frames are ready to be manipulated to suit your needs. You can lean them vertically, stack them horizontally; by attaching two together, you can even create a free-standing skyline of unparalleled bookshelf majesty. While the utility of these shelves is somewhat in question, their compelling visual nature certainly is not.
Assembled Boxes: Fastened together with two straps, these boxes are each covered with a unique print, creating an interesting, impossible to ignore pastiche effect. Though designs such as these are sure to make the organization of your books something of a confusing chore, the elegance that this shelving unit brings to a room outweighs those considerations.
Budak Modular Shelving: Like a pile of wine glasses or a multi-layered forest, this shelving and seating combination can be extensive as you want it to be thanks to its modular nature. Use just a few pieces for a small shelf or a bedside table (or a bench), or combine hundreds of pieces in the form of your choice to house your entire library.
The Neverending Bookcase: Another conceptual design with limited functionality, this tribute to the infinite is nevertheless sure to amaze guests with its graceful curves and — particularly if they are fans of Georg Cantor’s research on the mathematics of infinity — its philosophical implications. It’s likely to look better on its own than it will holding your math texts, though.
Collapsible Corrugated Shelving: If you’re looking for something that’s both lightweight and economical, you probably won’t do much better than the PLoP! storage and shelving system. Though the standard four section unit is pictured, the PLoP! is modular, which means that you can easily extend it up to twice that size without sacrificing the collapsibility and ease-of-transport which — along with extreme cost-rationality and a low overall resource expenditure — make these shelves so accessible and enchanting.
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