Oh! Gizmo

By Evan Ackerman

No matter how many branches you pile on the floor of your living room, you’re not likely to make yourself a comfy chair. As it turns out, the reason for this is simply that you’re not using big enough branches… If you use a branch big enough that you can see its individual cells, and you carve it into a block, and then use magic to make it squishy, you end up with what looks to be a spectacularly comfortable chair.

Yu-Ying Wu’s “Breathing Chair” is, indeed, based on plant cells. The bigger cells are more flexible than the smaller cells, so when you sit in it, the carefully calculated network naturally forms an arm chair. It’s made out of a 100% environmentally friendly foam plastic that’s sproingy enough to give you a little boost as you stand up, too. The chair received a Red Dot Design Award earlier this year, which could mean that someone’s going to pick it up for production.

VIA [ Core77 ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Imagine you crossed your desk at work with one of those Razor scooters, I think the results would look something like this Mobile Desk which I absolutely want for my next trade show. It’s got a bicycle seat and a small tray for holding a laptop when you’re being productive, but each leg features a wheel allowing you to roll around the office without ever having to get up. Surprisingly there’s a two-seater version as well, but with a price tag of $1,000 I’m going to stick with the more affordable $500 single rider model.

[ Mobile Desk ] VIA [ 7Gadgets ]

By Andrew Liszewski

Created by design studio MAEZM (whose website appears to be over its allocated traffic limit) the Sofa-Dress is essentially a foam cover designed to sit atop a horribly uncomfortable wooden or metal chair, making the sitting experience feel slightly less uncomfortable. It’s a clever idea, and with some more substantial foam or padding it could actually bring relief to thousands of school kids or press conference attendees all over the world.

[ yatzer - Studio MAEZM ] VIA [ Freshome ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It looks like Ambient Lounge has managed to do the impossible by making a bean bag chair that wouldn’t look out of place even in the most hoity-toity of living rooms. Usually reserved for dorm rooms or tech startups trying to look hip, bean bag chairs don’t exactly exude class, but it turns out all you have to do is make them out of real leather (in mahogany, black or cream color) with stitched paneling, offer an optional matching ottoman (an extra $242) and charge in the neighborhood of $570.

[ Fiorenze Sofa ] VIA [ Luxury Housing Trends ]

By Andrew Liszewski

It may not recline like a La-Z-Boy, but the Athena sofa from Switzerland-based Artanova makes up for it with an integrated multimedia PC controlled by a couple of LCD displays that pop out of each armrest. It’s also got an iPod/iPhone dock (but what sofa doesn’t these days?) and will play your music over a set of hidden speakers which includes an 8-inch subwoofer. The best feature though is that the Athena as a sofa actually features a rather nice design, and I don’t think most people would mind having one in their living room. Except that most people probably aren’t willing to drop $15,436 on what essentially becomes a Doritos crumb receptacle.

[ Artanova ] VIA [ Freshome ]

By Andrew Liszewski

In an effort to improve the quality of their meetings, and to ensure they always ended on time, advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy’s London office commissioned ico design (in collaboration with Sidekick Studios) to create the Timetable. The table helps the participants better manage a meeting by making everyone aware of the passing time with a series of illuminated panels.

At the start of a meeting you twist a dial to set the desired amount of time, and as the meeting progresses the light-up panels, which each represent a tenth of the alloted time, will be switched off one by one. When all the panels are off, a polite voice will inform those in attendance that the meeting is now over, and while they don’t have to go home, they can’t stay here.

[ ico design - Timetable ] VIA [ LIMITEDHYPE ]

By Chris Scott Barr

I’ll admit to being a Mac user, but I’m an equal-opportunity geek, so I have several Windows machines as well. Mac users tend to get a reputation for needing things that are trendy and fashionable to go with their computers. That’s not the case with any of the people I know, but companies like SmartDesks aren’t helping matters by releasing products like the MacTable.

Here is a table specially designed for iMacs (though thankfully the table is compatible with Windows PCs), which basically means there’s a hole in it. The hole is the perfect size to hold an iMac, so that the bottom of the screen is flush with the table. Brilliant, now you’ve taken something that’s perfectly eye-level and dropped it by around 6 inches or so. I’ve used stations where you had to stare down at the computer the entire time, and they are not comfortable at all. I’m sure that some hip school will buy these and all of their kids will complain of neck pains. Awesome.

[ SmartDesks ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

By Chris Scott Barr

When I was a kid, I always leaned back in my chair at the dinner table (I still do this, actually). This of course always got me yelled at. Now I wonder, if I were sitting in a chair that had an extra pair of legs for support, would my parents be so upset when I leaned back? I’ll probably never know, but if you’re a youth with $500 burning a hole in your pocket, then you can pick yourself up the Attitude Chair.

Alright, I have to say it. “Simpsons did it!” This 6-legged chair was invented by one Homer J Simpson (and probably a hundred other people). What’s crazy is that Voos Furniture is trying to sell it for $500. It’s just a damn chair with two extra legs screwed! Seriously, if you buy this thing, you must have some sort of brain damage and should not be trusted with this kind of money.

[ Voos Furniture ] VIA [ Crave ]

By Andrew Liszewski

For some reason dirty laundry manages to avoid my obsessive desire for organization and tidiness, so it just piles up in a corner until laundry day rolls around. But instead of being an eyesore, this clever cushionless stool known as Todd puts your dirty clothes to good use.

Created by llot llov, the metal frame stool really only becomes usable once you’ve piled a few dirty garments on top, making it comfortable to sit on. And depending on the size of your wardrobe, the Todd stool can even provide a different seating experience or color palette on a week-to-week basis. Sadly though, it’s not available for sale.

[ llot llov - Todd Stool ] VIA [ Wired Gadget Lab ]