campus.

Over the weekend I got a note from Aliona over at House of European Design inviting me to check out their Campus sofa. It's pretty cool, but I'll let HED explain it in their own words:

what. they. say.
"Campus is both an aesthetically and functionally designed sofa and recliner. It invites you to relax. The head and feet areas of the sofa recliner are infinitely variable. Via a very sophisticated gas pressure spring mechanism any desired position can be easily produced, it can be a comfortable three-seater, a relaxing recliner or a cozy guest bed. The backrest can be folded down, producing a place to put things or used as an armrest. Head- and footrests can be independently adjusted to any position. The light, compact frame in matt chromed stainless steel tubing integrates discreetly even in small rooms."

what. i. say.
Caveat: I haven't actually tried the Campus, which is the acid test for all furniture. But short of that, I like what I see so far. I mean, if it's at all comfortable (and affordable!) this piece looks great and is amazingly versatile. Forgetting the fact that it transforms into a bed, etc., just having a sofa that I can adjust to my comfort zone is a cut above the typical. Then you throw in the whole transformer thing along with nice styling and I'd say HED has themselves a winner here.

kick. table.

Sometimes I like things that I see but I'm not sure why. Take the Kick Table by Toshiyuki Kita. It's basically just an oddly shaped end table on wheels that comes in some pretty bright colors and adjusts up and down. That's about all I have to say about it, other than: I want one. But not for the $500 they seem to go for. Ouch!

s.w.b.

The S.W.B. bed is yet another excellent design from Philippe Starck, but not for the usual Starck reasons. I'll be honest, at first glance the S.W.B. doesn't look much different from about a million other minimalist modern beds I've seen. So what is Starck giving us that's so unusual? One word: Accessories!

made. to. be. different.
One of my big complaints about beds -- and bedrooms in general -- is that it's hard to get things to work well with other things. Get a gorgeous, giant headboard, for instance, and you'll find there's no good place to put a reading light on or next to it. Get a nice, exotic looking bed and suddenly you can't find a nightstand to match.

lights. tables. shelves.
The S.W.B., on the other hand, has more accessories than most people will need (but you don't have to buy them all). There's an optional bedside table (left or right side option) that can be further outfitted with a drawer and a reading light. There's a padded rectangular foot bench, but if that's too big, you can use the smaller, round foot table (also left or right side option). And if the headboard isn't backed against a wall, you can get a headboard shelf. And finally, there's an optional light for the headboard shelf.

wenge.
The S.W.B. even comes with an option I wasn't familiar with: You can get the accessories in maple, matte lacquered in ivory and gray, or ... wenge. (Wenge, a tropical hardwood not listed in my dictionary but that a kind Funfurde reader told me about. Thanks!) The other thing I couldn't find was a price, but I'd expect it to be pretty unreasonable. It is Starck, after all!

nimbus.

Somebody over at Mosleymeetswilcox has a way with arts and crafts. They put some polystyrene balls together with some PETG plastic (nope, no idea what that is) and made "a seductive, lightweight material" that they then turned into the Nimbus.

shining. sunlight.
The Nimbus is a ceiling light that looks like a gentle, puffy cloud. Mosleymeetswilcox describesitthisway: "As light passes through the gaps between the polystyrene balls it is reminiscent of sunlight shining through a cloud." Sweet!

clouds. developing.
The Nimbus is still in development so not officially for sale, but Mosleymeetswilcox does have an e-mail address on their site where you can inquire about buying one.

xes.

The XES is a small table. How small? Only 5 inches in diameter. Just enough to hold one drink. And that's exactly the way creator Edward Geluk wanted it.

put. on. your. glass.
The not quite grammatical text for the XES describes it this way: "When you need a place to put on your glass, you take the XES. Until that moment, it can be waiting for you in a corner."

decadent.
I love the XES because it combines style and decadence. Not decadence in the "moral decay" sense...I mean in the "self indulgent" sense. You have one glass? Here's one table for it. Got more glasses? Then get more tables!

something's. afoot.
The XES has a very heavy foot to keep it from falling over, and to help it look stylish. The whole package comes in either chromed steel or stainless steel with a white nylon top. Goes for $300, so it helps if you don't own too many glasses.

boalum.

If you're looking for a light to go with the Buldang couch/chair/thing, you won't go far wrong if you buy a Boalum. I'm sorry, I didn't mean light, I meant "luminaire," which is what this piece is called. (Luminaire means, among other things, "light fixture," so this is a somewhat fine distinction in my book.)

totally. tubular.
The Boalum has a flexible, tubular body of opal white plastic that diffuses the light. Or rather lights, as this thing's packed with 25 5W bulbs in its 6-foot length. But don't worry about changing them too often, because they're rated for 20,000 hours of use. If that's not enough illumination for you, you can string two Boalums together. (In luminaire marketing speak, this is called "obtaining a longer tubular composition." Fun!)

luminary.
The Boalum is somewhat of a luminary among luminaires as it's on permanent exhibit at museums in Canada and Italy. You can put it on exhibit in your own home for about $500.

buldang.

It's not often you find a piece of furniture that sounds like a swear word and looks like the plush version of someone's intestines. So let me just say upfront, the Buldang is certainly unique.

30. feet.
The Buldang is a "de-structured, padded, and segmented tube" that's 30 feet long and billed as a modular armchair-sofa, because those are two of the things you can arrange it to make. But really you can turn it into anything you like, which is why, I suppose, that Hirohiko Kamiya's design is called a "modern object masterpiece" instead of "puffy sausage links."

icky.
The Buldang is made from a cloth called "Climate Control" that has an organic, supple, human feel. Exactly what you want in your finer pieces of entrail. Not only is this wonder material both elastic and solid, it also has "resistance to rubbings." Thank goodness for that!

objet. d'money.
Just $2,380 will buy this objet d'art for your home.

netsurfer.

The Netsurfer is one of those weird chairs that have been combined with a PC to make a surfing station. Although the practicality of these is questionable, I find myself oddly drawn to them in a slavering, geeky sort of way. Especially the Netsurfer, because it's built on the foundation of a funky rocking chair I happen like called the Chip.

chip. shot.
First let's deal with Chip, described thusly: "Like a surfboard, Chip works with the body and can be used in different positions. By adjusting balance with small body movements, the sitter quickly finds the most comfortable position." And it looks cool too. The judges award high marks all around.



chip. away.
Now that Chip is out of the way, let's tackle the ensemble of PC + Chip = Netsurfer, described as: "Abandoning the conventional combination of chair and desk, the Netsurfer rethinks our relationship to the computer and our surfing requirements. The semi-reclining position with the screen at eye level is designed to be comfortable for long periods. Pillows support the neck and lower back, arms and legs are supported on adjustable arm and footrests."

potato. chip.
So basically adding a computer to Chip is cool, but all it's really good for is making you -- well, not a couch potato but let's call it a Web chair potato. Because surfing is all you can do with this thing. No reading a book (unless it's an e-book on your computer). No watching TV (unless your computer has a TV tuner). (Hey, wait, maybe this isn't as impractical as I first thought. Once your computer does everything, you'll only need one piece of furniture...the chair in front of the computer! This Netsurfer thing is ahead of its time.)

globlow.

Globlow is another one of those "living lamps," sort of like the Gravity but less aggressive. In the Globlow's case, the shade is made of rip-stop nylon that inflates when the light is on and deflates when it's off.

deflated.
I think the idea is interesting, but the execution isn't quite working for me. I don't think I want to wait for my light to inflate, and even if I did the deflated version is not very savory looking. Of course, I probably couldn't tell in the dark, but still...I'd know it was there, dangling limply. Ick.

fan.
The Globlow also has a 12W fan inside to puff it up (yeah, at first I also thought it was the heat from the bulb that made it expand...nope), and I'm not sure I can take fan noise in my computer and my light at the same time. Not for $499 anyway. Still, I give the designers an "A" for effort.

satala.

How's this for a description: "It drips from the wall to the floor in one sinuous swoop balancing itself on a single foot." Ever think those words would apply to a hammock? Me neither.

one-tree.
The Satala is a one-tree hammock "inspired by a mother rocking her baby to sleep." Rock may not be the best word, as it really moves side to side. More of a "sway" in my book. But either way, it looks comfy! Really, really comfy, too.



two. people.
Although the Satala balances on just one foot (the other, presumably, attached to something sturdy), the manufacturer says it can hold two people. And with a $4,000 price tag, you might need two to pay for it. For that money, though, you get a wide variety of colors and fabrics to choose from.

gondola.

Here's an ultra-simple but ultra-modern-looking way to store those old fashioned things called "compact discs" that some people might still have lying around. It's called the Gondola and can be found at Bart Design.

mastro. work.
The Gondola (designed by Mastro Design) is made from two sheets of clear Plexiglas around a soft foam insert. It holds about 30 CDs (you know, those shiny discs they used to listen to music on) and stands about 6 feet tall. As long as you don't have too many CDs it's pretty functional and funky looking, although seems rather on the tall side. Unless the 195 height measurement on the site isn't in centimeters, in which case I'm really not sure how tall it is.

two. things.
The two things I know I'm not sure about are 1) how much the Gondola costs and 2) if those things on the bottom are wheels. I'm assuming they're not, otherwise the main function of the Gondola would seem to be falling down...a lot.

lightwedge.

Somebody had a bright idea when they came up with the Lightwedge. It's a reading light for books made out of a sheet of optical-grade (whatever that means) acrylic and illuminated by LEDs. The LEDs light the acrylic which in turn evenly lights the entire page you're reading. This seems like a better idea than traditional book lights, which tend to brightly light one spot of the page only.

long. lasting.
You'll need four AAA batteries to power the thing, but they'll supposedly last a whopping 40 hours. That's probably enough time to read The Lord of the Rings several times over, even if you're a slllooowww rrreeeaaadddeeerr.



how. cool. is. this?
You can also buy a nightvision version of the Lightwedge, "perfect for sailors, astronomers and aviators." And just plain fun for everyone else! Both versions have two brightness settings. The nightvision version is $44.95, while the regular is $34.95 and a smaller, paperback model is $24.95.