Squint and you can see familiar shapes behind the dazzling detail and metallic gold of these 3D-printed chairs, but up close: finer geometries dominate each design.

Developed by John Briscella, this series of seats illustrates how metal printing can optimize for materiality (by leaving calculated voids), against a backdrop of classic furniture forms (and in some cases: set upon more traditional chair leg formations).

But it also highlights the rich array of aesthetic possibilities offered by such an approach, when one, for instance, introduces algorithms and other new technologies to inform geometric expressions.

More about the individual chairs in the series: ‘Nuum’ takes the classical form and progresses toward something new; in an homage to eames, briscella adds the mathematical letter ’n’ — a non negative integer. ‘Geofrei’ is geometrical and free. ‘Seafoam’ is calming — the entire collection is one flush with history — past, present, and a 3D printed, highly optimized future.”

Using cheap and repetitive materials sounds like a recipe for kitsch, but this furniture-oriented facade clad in generic black chairs (at around $5.00 USD a piece) manages to pull off an elegant and refined look.

The clients, MY DVA (a furniture company), were looking for something additive, layered onto the existing bland building, but also reflecting their function (to showcase office and school furniture). The ideal solution would promote their wares while also entertaining visitors. It also had to be inexpensive.

Versed in product and urban design, Ondrej Chybik and Michal Kristof of studio CHYBIK+KRISTOF, took these concerns into account when designing the facade. Tapping into their respective backgrounds, they came up with cladding literally composed of product designs that also fits a neighborhood theme of repetition (filled with identical blocks of flats).

In total, the team used 900 Vicenza seats, a regular offering of the company, to form an undulating black box around the showroom, which functions well with the reduced light provided by these exterior shading elements.

Inside, the space was pared down to expose a raw concrete ceiling, from which suspended curtains hang to create little galleries — adjustable lights in these zones simulate different lighting conditions for furniture client spaces.

Staff offices are located along the edges, off to the sides and out of the way behind translucent partitions, leaving a large, open, blank-slate showroom for furniture buyers.

More than just a surface to sit on, these modern chair designs are (sometimes literally) works of art, sculptural yet functional, from a flat-looking canvas you can actually sit on to a series of chairs that slide inside each other, inception-style. Customize a chair’s look with removable graphic panels, hook two high-backed seats together to make a room-within-a-room, or scare your guests with hanging chairs that mimic beasts of the deep sea.

Monster Chairs Might Eat You

Rest inside the mouth of a sea beast, real or mythical, in this series of fun and frightening handmade chairs by Cape Town artist Porky Hefer.

A Painting You Can Sit In

Hung flat on a wall, these canvases look like nothing more than two-dimensional paintings. But pull them down, lean them against the wall and take a seat, and you’ll find that they are surprisingly up to the task. These lightweight furniture pieces by YOY design studio are made of wood, aluminum and stretched elastic canvas.

Home Office in a Chair

If you’re the type who works from home but isn’t into sitting at a conventional desk, the Four Works Armchair can meet all of your needs. A seat is embedded within a bookcase-like base that also offers a light, cupholder, power outlets, storage and a laptop platform.

Inception Chair

Ten interlocking chairs ranging from adult to child size fit within a single frame in this chair by Vivian Chiu, inspired by the dream-within-a-dream concept of the movie Inception.

Rhinoceros Beetle Chair

Adding to a collection of realistic animal-shaped chairs rendered in matte black, Maximo Riera presents The Beetle Chair, which is only recognizable as furniture when viewed from the back.

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Neat Seats 14 Crazy Creative Modern Chair Designs

Turn your home into a gallery with functional furnishings that double as sculpture, like cabinets in the form of human torsos and beds shaped like roller coasters. These 18 designs blur the lines between furniture and art, blending gallery-worthy aesthetics with practical purposes.

Enignum Chairs, Tables and Beds by Joseph Walsh

Artist Joseph Walsh strips wood into thin layers to create incredibly delicate-looking sculptural forms that also function as an array of practical objects. “Using free form design allows the material to dictate the composition,” reads Walsh’s artist statement. “Tables, chairs, entire walls that don’t just straddle the universes of art, architecture and function but unify them into a beautiful equation.”

La Montaña Rusa Roller Coaster Bed

The shape of this communal bed and lounging area by artist duo ‘Los Carpinteros’ echoes that of a rollercoaster, the pink padded surfaces rising and falling in a reference to “the cycles of life, rest, dreaming, sexuality, birth and death.”

Human Figure Cabinets by Peter Rolfe

The nude human form becomes more than just a visual to admire in the hands of woodworker Peter Rolfe, who has created a series of figurative sculptures that are also cabinets. Drawers pull out of some unexpected places, the seams sometimes hidden so you have to paw around a bit to find them.

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Form Follows Function 18 Sculptural Home Furnishings

Sometimes you wish the whole loud, distracting, eavesdropping world would just go away, especially when you’re trying to work on your computer or take a private phone call. These clever chair designs will make you feel like it really has with soundproofing elements, hoods and booth-like shields that provide a sense of peace and privacy even if you’re stuck in a busy airport, office or hotel lobby.

Womb-Like Hush Seating

Hide yourself in a cocoon of wool to work on your laptop or take a little time to yourself. Designer Freyja Sewell’s HUSH looks like an incredibly cozy space, envisioned for busy hotels, airports, offices and libraries.

Objet-O Chair

A massive paper lantern fits onto the back of a chair to offer light and privacy in one, in this fun idea by Korean designer Song Seung-Yong.

Windowseat Lounge

This sleek, colorful chair features a built-in canopy that shields the user from distractions while still allowing you to lean back and peek around it.

‘Firstcall’ Chair Phone

Need to take a phone call, but there’s no private place to go? Take a seat in the ‘Firstcall’ chair by Dutch designer Ruud van der Wier. Shaped like a classic phone, the padded fabric material of the chair shields the user’s head to mute background noise.

Peekaboo Cantilevered Wing Chair

The top of the Peekaboo cantilevered wing chair flips down to provide total sound-absorbing privacy whether you want to make a private call, take a nap or just have a few moments of quiet time. Made of molded formfelt, it features a plexiglass panel in the hood so you can still see around you while inside.

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Antisocial Seating 14 Distraction Cutting Privacy Chairs