Flat pack furniture makes shipping and moving a lot easier, but it doesn’t leave much room for comfortable cushions. A French furniture brand called Mojow came up with a clever workaround that somehow manages to not look like it belongs in a college dorm or a child’s bedroom: inflatables. The simple, streamlined frames for its chairs and couches pair with the air-filled cushions in a pleasingly modern way.

Available on Archiproducts, Mojow’s offerings include armchairs, sofas, daybeds and indoor benches. Each offers a choice of either an oak or black metal frame and opaque or transparent inflatable cushions in green, black, orange, clear and pink color ways. They’re easy and nearly instant to set up and disassemble with an electric inflater, and Mojow says they’re easy to clean, durable and UV-protected so they won’t degrade in the sunlight like you might expect.

But perhaps the coolest part of this modern blow-up furniture series is the ability to fill one of the models with any solid objects you like (within reason) before inflating the cushions all the way. Rubber ducks? Sports memorabilia? Crystals? Shredded paper? A week’s worth of your own solid waste materials? Go wild with it, a long as the objects can fit through the opening and won’t puncture the plastic.

Murphy beds and small table surfaces aren’t the only interior elements that can pop out of walls or freestanding cabinets to offer extra function when it’s needed. Entire kitchens, living rooms, bedrooms, offices, play areas and even balconies can be unfolded or pulled from nearly-flat surfaces to make small spaces more versatile, shifting their purpose altogether within minutes. See 12 more ultra-compact fold-out room systems.

Furniture Pops Out of Flat-Pack Mat

Entitled ‘Land Peel,’ this piece by Shin Yamashita is a flat floor mat with elements that pop up to create a variety of seating and working/eating surfaces.

My Space Fold-Out Play Area for Kids

Small living spaces rarely have enough room for an entire children’s play area, but fold-away solutions create one when it’s needed. My Space by Liya Mairson packs almost entirely flat when not in use, but pops up into a fun little private play space within minutes. Since it’s made of cardboard, it’s light enough for kids to set up themselves.

Pull-Out Dining Room

Bench seating, a dining table, and even an overhead light pull out of this compact pull-out dining room design, which also contains storage space.

Expanding Fold-Out Balcony

Get access to the outdoors from an upper-level apartment or condo in under a minute with this cool pop-out balcony by Hofman Dujardin Architects. It looks like a window when closed, but opens up to offer a small but valuable temporary outdoor space.

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Fold Out Life 13 Space Saving Expanding Room Elements

Lots of fresh, fun, modern home furnishings are on display this week, January 18th – 23rd 2011 at the annual imm cologne design fair in Germany, including entries in the [D3] design talent contest. Dezeen is there holding talks with designers and up-and-coming design figures, and have featured a few of the most eye-catching creations including a cocoon-like couch, a folding table and ultra-lightweight chairs made from a single sheet of metal.

Coming in second place in the [D3] design contest is Hanna Emelie Ernsting’s ‘Moody Couch’, an interactive couch cover based on the designer’s idea that “form follows moods”. The cover is much larger than the couch underneath it, and is made of a special textile that retains the shape it’s scrunched into. Users can pull it up into cozy little forts, mold it into body-pillow-like bunches, pull it down onto the floor or use it to sculpt the couch into a new shape.

One of two joint winners for first prize is the OLA table by Swedish designers AKKA, a lightweight folding table that easily folds and unfolds but always stays on its feet, preventing the soil and scuffing that plagues other portable furniture. “Even a fairly small lady could unfold a hundred tables at a conference without risking her health, since you dont have to turn the whole table around,” say the designers.

The second joint first-place winner is the Pressed Chair by Harry Thaler. Sleek and simple, the chair is incredibly light weight thanks to its all-aluminum construction, but still able to handle heavy loads due to a relief pressed into the surface, which increases its structural strength. The chair is made from a single sheet of 2.5mm aluminum, and even the scraps from the cutout get used, bolted together to form a stool.