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(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 and go here to see more awesome urban furniture!
Thanks in part to TreeHugger, Inhabitat, FresHome and Neatorama
Previously: Convertible Urban Furniture
And: More Convertible Urban Furniture
Check Out These Great Related Articles:
Creative Recycled Urban Furniture Designs
These urban furniture designers prove recycling can be a lot more interesting than stuffing cans, bottles and cardboard into the proper containers.
The Best Bookcases and Bookcase Designs
If you or a book-lover you know are stuck on how to redecorate your urban dwelling and store your favorite volumes here are twenty unusually clever shelving solutions.
15 More Creative and Unique Bookcases and Bookshelves
Everything from cozy chairs and strange figures to suspended hangers and adjustable modules.
77 Comments
February 25th, 2008 at 8:44 am
Wow, you have some fascinating stuff here. I just hope that these furniture are durable enough.
February 25th, 2008 at 8:59 am
There are some brilliant designers out there.
But why do they most always choose such horrible, horrible colors?
February 25th, 2008 at 9:08 am
HIDEOUS! Lol
February 25th, 2008 at 9:31 am
I love the last set. Where can I get my hands on one?
February 25th, 2008 at 9:46 am
practical and rugged … ???
February 25th, 2008 at 9:54 am
The table with the 4 chairs that fit under it perfectly, I found a table just like that only the chairs were ottomans so they were flush on the top with the table too and you could pull a lever underneaththe table to raise the table top a lot higher, i’ve been looking EVERYWHERE for one, if someone could tell me what they are called or where i could buy one thatd be awesome
February 25th, 2008 at 9:56 am
I don’t get it. Why not provide a link or at least a URL back to the designer?
I would love to see where the last set came from…but it’s a bit hard to Google a picture.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Great! I also like those transforming furnitures.
February 25th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Found it! http://www.mein-casulo.de/en/en_index.htm
Seriously, don’t tease us with the most aweseomest thing I’ve seen in awhile and make me hunt for it without even a product name or manufacturing company, sheesh!
February 25th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
Great design! save room save costs… :D Well done!
February 25th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Fascinating! I agree with Mox. I’d love to see a link back to the original designer, assuming you know who it is.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:59 pm
I bought a transforming bed but it turned out to be a Decepticon… damn thing tried to kill me in my sleep
February 25th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
toby, I would love to hear more about that! haha
February 25th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
Where is the link to buy the “Rooms in a Box” in a box. The one in the video? You show it twice in the article and then a video with NO LINK?
February 25th, 2008 at 7:41 pm
Regarding the ‘room in a box’, I saw an article on it a week or two ago, and it was mentioned that it had just won some sort of design contest, and the creators were shopping around for production/distribution outlets.
So I don’t think it’s even possible to get ahold of yet until it has some sort of distribution channels behind it.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I try to read the BoX’s text.. it’s ‘Casulo’ and google it..
I got this one.. http://mein-casulo.de/en/contact.htm maybe can help
February 25th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Try searching for casulo for the room in box design. Apparently, the moderators did not let you post links.
February 25th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Wow, this is really great furnitures idea.
Practically you can save much spaces with these.
Has it been marketed??
February 26th, 2008 at 5:42 am
Regarding Studio Dror’s wall hanging/chair, $1,800 buys a lot of cheap folding chairs…
February 26th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Some of these products dont look that durable. I think many would break after a few uses.
February 26th, 2008 at 8:41 am
These would be very fresh products to the mainstream. It reminds me of my more youthful years when I would of had time I could afford to organizing furniture to become something else. You know, the sleepovers where you built forts out couches, chairs, bookcases and bedsheets that made you take the time to peice it together to become something else. That the first things that comes to mind.
With that in mind, although it would be fresh to mainstream, I think it is neat but very impractical being that you have to manually do it. Who wants to take the time to have to set up and breakdown a furniture set everytime you go in and out of the room.
I think that to put this concept over the top for mainstream the furniture contraptions should be made to be “automatic”. At the push of a button everything would break down and set back back up on its own without having manually do it.
That would be over the top super cool.
February 26th, 2008 at 9:44 am
some of it looks a bit on the uncomfortable side but looks really cool otherwise though, may no t be practical but it’s cool.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
This is must make Ikea envious or rushing to make something like this.
February 26th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
TRANSFORMERS, furniture in disguise
February 26th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
These look like Playmobile furniture!
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:20 am
Amazing!
March 13th, 2008 at 11:57 am
I’ll take one of each!
May 13th, 2008 at 5:33 am
This reminds me of the Trey chair. http://www.treychair.com
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:16 am
Wow! What a concept. Those furnitures are really beautiful and most importantly its space saving.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:39 pm
IKEA has a wooden set similar to the Marta A. dinette! I saw something similar tot he unit stored in the wall in an od decorating book from the seventies.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Impressive! Now let’s see them put it all back in the box.
While that was super cool, a lot of the people I encounter have a hard time refolding a map - let alone something this complex.
July 14th, 2008 at 9:53 am
It’s more than meets the butt
July 14th, 2008 at 10:52 am
This gives the term “ass to mouth” an all new meaning!!!
July 14th, 2008 at 12:06 pm
All cool, but all of them look uncomfortable, unwieldy, and flimsy. How about something practical?
July 14th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
question. is that couch bed sturdy? like will it break from having sex on it or wut? lol
July 15th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Cool pictures…
August 7th, 2008 at 7:19 am
right canada home clean land usa student
October 7th, 2008 at 4:13 am
I think this funniture will be a famous . . .
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