Lighted Fantasies

By LAWRENCE TAN

UK designer Lee Broom is perhaps better known for dishing out award-winning bar interiors than furniture, but judging by his first two furniture collections to date, Broom could well become the next Philippe Starck.

His sophomore series, entitled “Rough Diamond”, follows on from his debut “Neo Neon” collection, which involved taking vintage furniture pieces, and giving the furniture a new lease of life by embellishing it with light installations.

For example, the “Bright on Bistro” Chair (pictured above), limited to 50 pieces, is an antique classic bentwood chair rescued from a tea house in Brighton with a silhouette accentuated by turquoise neon. The Club Chair takes a traditional Chesterfield but replaces the 85 buttons with fairground light bulbs.

Broom will launch his third collection at the London Design Festival this September but there wouldn’t be any light bulbs or neon this time. While information is scant at the moment, a spokesperson for Broom says the new collection will “focus on pieces for the living room” with an “emphasis on simple classic shapes but with unique and striking application”.

All images are courtesy of Lee Broom.

Lightable Furniture

Lightable Furniture

Lightable chairs, cocktail tables and other furniture and décor create a dazzling, new look and style for clubs, restaurants, parties, events or even your backyard. This new line of glowing, decorative furnishings and fixtures comprises lighted cubes in five different sizes, lighted cylinders in five different heights, lighted chairs in different colors, lighted, textured faux rocks and round poly ball lighting accessories.

This innovative seating, serving and sitting area concept combines smooth, contemporary design with sharp visual appeal for a stunning effect that customers, party guests, friends and family will remember for years. Or set the furniture unlit for a sleek, futuristic look and style.

All of the glowing lightable furniture is manufactured from durable, scratch and scuff-resistant, 100% polyethylene to withstand constant use in busy hospitality settings and frequent transport for rental shops. Their light weight permits easy movement, setup and handling by one person and they may be placed inside or outside. A molded-in opening in the bottom of each one allows placement of an LED light, light bulb or other battery operated or electrical lighting product. The LED or other light shines upwards and outwards evenly through the modern plastic material to create the mesmerizing glowing effect and may be switched on and off when the natural, unlit look is desired.

Modoluce festive outdoor light furniture

Quote: Modoluce's fun, illuminated furniture is once seen, never forgotten! The illuminated furniture range creates an extraordinary effect grouped together in sets of light up tables, light up stools, and other accessories - whether inside, or out on the patio. The Atollo collection, designed by Paolo Grasselli, consists of generous, low stools and tables. You can choose from the Atollo Outdoor round stools ideal for parties, or the Atollo Panca semi-circular benches for intimate groupings. Atollo Happyhour is a high table which features a hole in the middle, which can be filled with ice to keep your drinks chilled. Atollo Vertical is an upright 'O' that functions as sculptural lighting to complement the illuminated range! The Campanone Outdoor collection is also designed by Paolo Grasselli, and offers a 'pouf' shape that is used both as tables and stools. Modoluce outdoor furniture is a groovy decor solution to both lighting and seating.

Stay cool by the pool with this LED Poolside Furniture from Florastyle.

Lucas Maassen's Family Furniture

Family Furniture Did toys turn into furniture or did furniture turn into toys? And who is in the middle? The pieces of furniture are the main characters in this Tableau Vivant. A small change on the convention of chairs has granted them a life. T

Brad's Bizarre Furniture

Transrock

by campana brothers

additional text: Through design prototypes, limited editions and design-as-art objects, Limited Edition documents a growing phenomenon in contemporary furniture design. It is a book about designers who are making furniture objects outside of, and parallel to, the industrial manufacturing system. Limited Edition is illustrated with a rich selection of works that reflect the very best of this new area as well as new and behind the scenes images from some of its leading protagonists, including: Gaetano Pesce, Marc Newson, Maarten Baas, Tom Dixon, Studio Job, Zaha Hadid and Johanna Grawunder, together with an equally fascinating collection of newcomers and comparative unknowns. It gives us an intriguing insight into their latest work as well as their thoughts about the current state their profession. From over 40 interviews with key designers, manufacturers, gallerists, auctioneers and critics, the author Sophie Lovell has catalogued and compiled a unique and timely overview of one of the most exciting creative fields of our age. Limited Edition is beautifully packaged in a custom-layout and typography specially designed by the Australian graphic design team Rinzen.

Green Furniture

These collection garden furnitures are good selections if you tend to blend the seating with the surrounding. With green and leaves/grass textures, the Green Furnitures is a good way to pimp your garden. By: Uli

Auto-Cannibalistic Table Decomposes as Plants Grow

by Olivia Chen

indisposed, atema architecture, ate atema, auto-cannibalistic, disposable objects art, disposable objects furniture, trash art, eco art, environmental art, trash furniture, paper egg carton furniture

For the sake of sustainability, we normally hope that our furniture will last a long time in an effort to conserve resources and energy. Ate Atema of Atema Architecture, however, ponders whether this philosophy is truly the correct path to eco-enlightenment. With his Auto-Cannibalistic Table, which is intended to be a temporary object, he embraces sustainability in a less conventional way. The table was constructed with paper egg cartons and wheatpaste glue, which is made from flour and water, and then planted with herbs. The herbs can be picked as they grow, creating a place where food can both be eaten as well as grown–over time, however, the plants are intended to “eat away” at the table.

ivy chair

The Ivy Chair, a graceful armchair covered in white leaves is one graceful armchair that makes you feel like sitting on the soft leaves.

While living in the city where nature was excluded to the utmost limit, we tend to forget the fact that we depend on the power of nature and we do not remember it until natural disaster strikes. However, I believe that we should always appreciate nature and pay respect to it essentially.

White leaves seemed real which compose “ivy chair” express the metaphor of nature excluded in the city.

from h220430 Japanese design studio

Michel Bussien’s Growing Chair

Swiss designer Michel Bussien’s Growing Chair evokes pertinent ideas for the 21st century: nature trapped within the confines of man, manicured at his whim, or a specimen preserved behind glass – like fossils in a museum.

chair planter

Designed by Zhuo Wang, this chair has a pot incorporated into one of its rear legs. When the plant grows, it becomes one with the chair Maybe not so practical because I’d hate to kill a plant by sitting on it but it’s so pretty

rocking cube

	A sculptural Rocking Chair
	The Rocking Cube represents more than an ordinary rocking chair. The seat area originates from the formal gesture of pushing the material through the body of the object. It is like a sculpture. The wooden veneer at the inner side of the chair creates warmth and cosiness. Foam, which is soft at the appropriate places, is used to make it comfortable. Designed by Jessica Nebel

Schlicht

Am heavily digging Sydney-based Nathan Mills "Schlicht" table-bench combo, made from a single piece of material and bent to shape.

Designed by Nathan Mills.

Suede Sand Chair

This very fine European import is created with discerning taste in mind. The unique chair is hand produced with Alcantara suede and ideally fits in fashionable, contemporary spaces. A leather version is also available.

Funky Blast Chair

This very unique and funky UK chair is hand crafted with American Ash. The seat is filled with high-density polyethylene foam and the upholstery colors are optional. Each leg (31 total) receives a hardwax oil finish.

Tropicalia

There were some wonderfully colourful chairs from Moroso at IMM: the Panna Chair by Tokujin Yoshioka, the rainbows of the Tropicalia chairs by Patricia Urquiola (above), and the Sushi collection by Edward Van Vliet, including the Donut pouf and the Spirocube rug. After the jump, the Replex Table by Oormerk is made out of old pieces of furniture, keeping memories and fine craftsmanship alive. What makes this table top so beautiful is the array of shapes that come together in a new context.

Orchid Inspired Chair

Designer Sebastian Gronemeyer took inspiration from the delicate forms of orchid leaves to create this unnamed chair. The smooth organic curves are actually quite ergonomic. Both the seat and backrest slightly flex to really mount you in when you sit. Tho thin, the reinforced fiberglass material is plenty strong. They’re supported by tubular steel rods mounted on rubber shocks for extra comfort.

Definitely an eye catching piece I could see fit in well with both modern and traditional homes.

Designer: Sebastian Gronemeyer

Seating for Every Shape Bum

Remember the story about Goldilocks and the 3 bears? While the bears were out, she helped her way into their house trying everything until she found the perfect fit. In hindsight she was on to something. We all want products designed custom just for us. The Wave Seat eludes to this old axiom and makes it possible thru the magic of nanotubes.

Imagine, future vehicles may have interiors that reconfigure themselves to each passenger. Conductive polymers infused with nanotubes stretch and contract when electric currents pass thru them, stiffening and softening where needed. This system is also perfect for hauling cargo, keeping things perfectly snug. In this day in age there is no point in having fixed layouts - 2 seaters, 4 seaters should be history. Wave Seat is an open source platform where users can create their own layout to facilitate conversation or privacy.

Designer: Jung Hoon Rhee

Mother/Child Dining

This dining table for mother and child is based on the metaphor of the special intimate moment of feeding your child. This feeling goes much deeper then just giving food; mother and child are almost one, as with the umbilical cord before birth. In this way the furniture has to be one too. Dimensions and form follows the function: table width is based on the length of my arm with the spoon towards the mouth of my child. I’m sitting sideways because that’s the easiest way to sit for feeding. Two sides of the table are completely closed; it’s impossible to join a third person. All these specific reasons that define form and finish do match completely with constructive needs.

Designer: Steenkamp Maartje

Bookcase Into A Bed

With new houses getting smaller and space being at a premium one young designer has come up with the perfect solution. Designer Karen created a bookcase that transforms into a bed. A mattress stands upright in four bits and forms the bulk of the bookcase. These surround five storage shelves which are suspended in mid-air by a wall mounted frame. The mattress sections are placed on the floor and slot together to form the bed - with two parts for a single, or all four to make a double.

Designer: Karen Babel

Picking This Apart

One tooth pick is nothing but hundreds of thousands combined and it becomes a marvelous piece of art. That’s because of a special characteristic we instinctually see - patterns. Wisteria was used to make this massive wood sculpture called Lune Blanche which means white moon. All those toothpicks… my teeth and gums are actually scared right now.

Designer: Ah-young Yi

Meltdown Chair, Perfect For Your Bum

Lets preface by saying DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME. Truth be told, as designers I’m sure we’ve done something similar. I remember burning foam just to watch it melt and sizzle into some unrecognizable blob. Tom Price’s Meltdown Chair takes it a step further.

This chair is created by heating and pressing a seat-shaped former into a ball of polypropylene rope. The rope begins to liquify as it comes into contact with the heated former and, as it cools, it sets in the shape of a seat creating a contrast in form and texture to the remaining rope. No additional material has been added to make the seat - it is all made from melted rope.

Designer: Tom Price

Cabbage Chair Looks Like a Cabbage!

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The Cabbage Chair is like peeling onions. Well, so long as you don’t have onion smell this chair does look pretty functional and what if they made Cabbage Lounge Sofas? That’d be way too cool.

Above is a series of snapshots of how the Cabbage Chair becomes a chair after being shipped to a customer. From the point of view of an ecoist, the Cabbage Chair does reduce carbon footprint by being able to ship itself in the smallest shape possible. This reminds me of Keetsa Eco-Friendly Mattresses where the mattresses are compressed into a box before shipping.The chair has no internal structure, no screws or nails, and could be eventually produced so that it gets shipped as one easy roll for the customer to peel back and use at home. I don’t recommend buying useless stuff like these, but I’ve posted about this chair to see what other people from around the world think, and create.

Put your friends to good use with a Strap-On Chair

Next time you find yourself with too many guests and too few chairs just combine the two. The Strap-On Chair by designer Annika Schmidt affixes easily to the human body by way of leather straps, and the two working models at the moment place the chair along a person's back or chest. You may want to stick to the back model as it looks far more sturdy.

You won't see the Strap-On Chair at Ikea anytime soon — it's an exhibition piece, not a furniture concept. Still, lop the legs off one of your chairs at home, get some leather, and then you're in business.

MAGINO Bar Stool

Looking for a modern bar stool or kitchen counter stool to match your Kartell Ghost Chair? The Magino line of futuristic bar stools are great alternatives to wooden or metal stools for your contemporary home. Made of clear 13 mm thick acrylic, Magino bar stools will bring clarity and function to your home!
Designer: Karim Rashid