Work, school, rapidly changing cities and declining home ownership rates have us moving more often than ever, so the kinds of heavy antique furniture favored by older generations aren’t exactly practical in the modern world. In fact, we might become even more mobile in the future, our sense of ‘home’ tied more to a handful of physical objects and intangible feelings within ourselves and our loved ones than to a particular structure. For this nomadic future, designers envision minimalist, portable furniture systems that can be packed up at a moment’s notice, but retain the ability to make us feel comfortable, cozy and cocooned.

Hannabi Urban Nomad Sofa

Sofas are often among the biggest, bulkiest things we have to lug up and down stairs and cram through small doorways when we move, and they don’t usually disassemble in a way that we’d want to deal with at our destination. Enter the Urban Nomad Sofa by Hungarian furniture brand Hannabi, a modular setup consisting of stacked cushions that can be used together or separately in various configurations. Two long rectangular cushions create the base of an average-sized sofa when used together, or comfy mats when used apart. Triangular supports can be used as pillows or backrests.

Transformer Furniture 2.0 by Povilas Danius

Designs like this bedroom in a box by Povilas Danius make us wonder why IKEA isn’t already selling similar offerings. The Transformer Furniture 2.0 set packs down to the size of a bookcase but contains a twin bed, shelves, lighting, underbid storage and a closet system with a built-in shoe organizer. Packing it up takes seconds thanks to a few hinges.

Nomadic Life Set by Gerardo Osio

The concept of taking the feeling of home with you wherever you go manifests in beautifully simple physical objects with Nomadic Life by Gerardo Oslo, a collection of comforts that can make all the difference when you’re in an unfamiliar environment. It includes a pillow, tatami mat and a wooden box with a lid that doubles as a tray containing copper tableware, a candleholder and a flower vase.

Sweet Seat by Dear Human

Sweet Seat is a modular furniture system by Dear Human that can be a squishy chair or an extra bed for houseguests, all in a simplified minimalist package. The upholstered cushions are held together by elastic bands when stacked, and you simply remove them when you want to stretch out.

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Books make everything better, especially when you’re looking to divide a large loft or studio apartment into smaller, more functional spaces. Bookshelf room dividers go far beyond the standard IKEA Expedit setup, as these 13 examples illustrate, with some offering built-in reading nooks or modular systems that can be expanded as your personal library grows.

Bookshelf Tower and Divider by Marica Vizzuso

This folding metal screen has slots for books of various sizes, and it can either close up into a columnar tower or be opened for use as a room divider. B-OK by Marica Vizzuso is not only multi-functional, it also turns books into art. Says the designer, “Why do you place books in a conventional way when you can have both an amusing and aesthetically interesting alternative?”

Charmingly Off-Kilter

Open cubes and rectangles are packed together in a random and off-kilter fashion, resulting in a visually dynamic room divider with a built-in desk.

Hidden Chair and Footstool

The ‘Shelflife’ series by Charles Trevelyan for Viable London is a space-saving bookcase and room divider with a chair and footstool hidden within the structure of the shelves.

Modern Leaning Bookcase and Room Divider

Forget about bookends – you don’t need them with this modular bookcase and room divider system by Nitzan Cohen. The leaning shelves ensure that books stay put, and modules can be added as your collection grows.

Alphabet Room Divider Bookshelf

So maybe it’s a little difficult to fit books into rounded letters like C and O, but but this room divider and storage system by modern Finnish designer Lincoln Kayiwa is still a fun way to organize small objects. It’s made of medium-density fiberboard and available in a range of colors.

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Want a really cool wall but don’t want to build one? Conventional curtains and traditional shoji screens aren’t the only ways to visually break up interior spaces. These 15 innovative and artistic room dividers – including colorful plastic panels, strange plant-like modular screens, real green and growing separators and flexible walls made of wood – also function as works of art, lighting and even furniture.

Build-a-Partition

(images via: Yanko Design)

This modular partition system called ‘Cell’ by the Edelweiss Industrial Design studio allows you to custom-create a room divider in the shape, size and density that you need for that particular space. Thin boomerang-shaped strips of wood connect together and are easily arranged into regular or irregular patterns, giving you control over the transparency and look of the divider.

Plant-Like Plastic Room Divider

(image via: Unica Home)

The ‘Algues’ room divider by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Vitra is a flexible yet strong plant-like plastic creation that have 19 ring-like eyes at the ends of their branches.  When viewed alone, the Algues looks like a decorative design element, but when multiple units are combined into one structure with plastic pegs, they act as an organic-looking room divider or privacy screen. This approach allows consumers to get involved in the design process.

Natural Tree Branch Divider

(image via: Crib Candy)

Simple, sleek and natural: this folding room screen by Natsiq Outdoor features towering tree branches attached to a lacquered stainless steel base. It acts much the same way a natural privacy screen of trees would, allowing in just the right amount of light and breaking up the space without closing it off.

Fiberglass Bars

(image via: PEGE)

Room divider or modern art sculpture? It’s difficult to tell. Fiberglass bars mounted on a plank of wood catch the light and just barely provide a glimpse of the other side.

Illuminated Room Divider

(image via: Generate)

Why shouldn’t a room divider serve more than one purpose? This one by Superieur is also a light source, providing subtle, diffused illumination that would be perfect for mood lighting or to supplement reading light behind a seating area.

Nola Star Colorful Plastic Panel

(image via: BonLuxat)

The colorful Nola Star room divider can also be used as a curtain or wall panel. 20×20 cm transparent plastic panels are joined together with metal rings, allowing you to control the shape and size of the room divider as a whole. The columns can then be hung from conventional curtain tracks.

Vertical Wave Divider

(image via: Susan Woods Studio)

The ‘Vertical Wave’ room divider is a work of art in itself, made from bent poplar plywood in various wood tones. The wavy shape makes it more visually interesting than a solid sheet of wood.

Recycled Modular Cardboard Divider

(image via: Mio Culture)

Nomad is a modular architectural room screen made of recycled double-wall cardboard in a rainbow of colors including a range of greens, grays, yellow, orange, red and white. The cardboard forms are assembled into free-standing, sculptural screens, temporary partitions or displays without hardware, tools or damage to existing structures.

Space Articulator Screen

(image via: Studio Lilica)

If you prefer the modern aesthetic to traditional décor, hanging curtains as room dividers probably isn’t your style. With the ‘space articulator screen’ by Studio Lilica, you can get the same effect but in a way that’s crisp, minimalist and visually interesting.

Monica Forster Forest Room Divider

(image via: BonLuxat)

Like the natural tree branch divider featured above, this room divider takes a cue from nature to break up space while still allowing light to shine through. Stainless steel poles attached to a lacquered MDF base are covered in little circles of wool felt, giving the impression of leaves or blossoms on delicate stems.

Designer’s Eye Wall

(image via: 2Modern)

This flexible and sound-absorbing screen system consists of felted wool with magnetic ends that make it possible to connect one Wall to another. When not in use, these walls can easily be rolled up for storage.

Abraxas Poseidon Room Screen

(image via: Abraxas)

The Poseidon Room Screen by designer Glendon Good is a xylophone-like structure composed of 60 hand-cut aluminum tubes. The screen, which acts as a modern art sculpture as well as a divider, has been made a part of the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institution’s Cooper-Hewitt Museum.

Water Bottle Privacy Screen

(image via: Fabulously Green)

Crafts made from recycled water bottles aren’t generally the prettiest things ever, but this installation of water bottles as room dividers is certainly an exception. Fittingly, this transparent room screen was created by Klein Dytham Architecture for the Danone company, which manufactures Evian and Volvic bottled water.

Toilet Paper Room Divider

(image via: Apartment Therapy)

You’ve got to store toilet paper somewhere, so why not create a wall of it to screen your toilet from the rest of the bathroom? One thing’s for sure: you’ll never run out, because you’ll always know exactly how many rolls you’ve got left. This example was designed by Gary Hutton and Timothy Gemmill for art collector Chara Schreyer’s pied-a-terre at Four Seasons Residences in San Francisco.

Fluid, Artistic Concept Room Divider

(image via: The Design Blog)

This futuristic-looking room divider by Sang Hoon Kim is more like a three-in-one: it’s also art and furniture. The unique curved shape allows users to perch among its nooks and crannies. Pictured is the prototype scale model; the designer is planning to make a full-sized version soon.