Modern Furniture Designs. Innovative and unique furniture has twists and turns, literal and conceptual ways of breaking from contemporary conventions and modern regularity. These creative furniture designs go beyond merely innovative, crossing boundaries of industrial, furniture and architectural design, using new methods and materials along the way.
posted by netbros on Aug 9, 2009 - 15 comments

Paint or Die But Love Me. Buoy Chair. Tilted Soup Plate. The art, furniture, and accoutrements of John Nouanesing.
posted by mattdidthat on Jul 10, 2009 - 7 comments

Eames Shell Chair - Something of how they get the way they are. Video.
posted by Manhasset on Dec 6, 2008 - 24 comments

Inspired by such diverse influences as Pee-Wee's Playhouse to Frank Gehry and Warner Brothers Cartoons to Philippe Starck, Vancouver, BC based woodworker Judson Beaumont's furniture is whimsical yet fully functional and is suited for children and adults alike. [more inside]
posted by Ufez Jones on Jul 9, 2008 - 15 comments

Viktor Schreckengost who died last year at the grand age of 101, was regarded by some as the father of industrial design. Every adult in America has ridden in, ridden on, drunk out of, stored their things in, eaten off of, been costumed in, etc… and there is no going past his gorgeous pedal cars. Some of his work can also be seen online at The Cleveland Museum of Art.
posted by tellurian on Apr 28, 2008 - 9 comments

Moving houses but don't want to buy bulky furniture? Get a Casulo.
posted by divabat on Feb 13, 2008 - 13 comments

The Last.fm guys really wanted a ballpit, inspired by the xkcd blog. Pictures.
posted by nthdegx on Jan 16, 2008 - 33 comments

Ever had a yen for a table made from jet engine turbine blades or a desk fashioned from a wing or a cowling? Giancarlo de Astis and Moto Art are two high-end design firms that are creating eye catching furniture and functional art from scavenged airplane parts. You can see their work and the work of others in the aviation art community at InterFlight Studio. Or do-it-yourself-ers in the crowd might just prefer a Field Guide to Aircraft Boneyards.
posted by madamjujujive on Aug 10, 2007 - 21 comments

I'm officially jealous of the people who get to work in this office workspace custom designed to look like Captain Nemo's Nautilus, from 20,000 Leagues. Via.
posted by jonson on Jun 14, 2007 - 30 comments

OOOMS is a Dutch design company with interesting products. Anti-Gravity Machine, Lo-Res Chair, Rebellious Desk and Golden Staples are among my favorites. Slightly NSFW for the very small thumbnailed image of some stylish sex toys. Via
posted by lazaruslong on Apr 25, 2007 - 26 comments

The Obselisk. The bastard child of a Mensa quiz and rattan furniture. Getting apart is probably ok, but I don't want to put it back together - particularly after drinky-poo's. But certainly a talking point - particularly at $9,890 . Via
posted by ninazer0 on Apr 19, 2007 - 19 comments

"Please understand that this is an extremely special piece of furniture, of exceptional quality and design – it is not for everyone by a very very long way and can only be afforded by the lucky few of us with exceptional wealth." (Videos [1, 2, 3.])
posted by mr_crash_davis on Jan 6, 2007 - 58 comments

Architecture and the Velvet Fist of Happiness - click 'view the book" in the top left. {Flash, slight sound, NSFW}
posted by dobbs on Dec 11, 2006 - 9 comments

The Canadian Design Resource - from Beavertail rockers to Broomball shoes.
posted by dobbs on Sep 28, 2006 - 9 comments

Carlo Mollino [Polaroids section NSFW] A student of the occult, he was an Architect, Designer, race car enthusiast and photographer [NSFW]
posted by tellurian on Feb 1, 2006 - 11 comments

Welcome to EUROBAD '74, an exhibition of Europe's worst interiors of 1974.
posted by atomicmedia on Oct 3, 2005 - 48 comments

iPod Coffee Table created by a Toronto design student
posted by haasim on May 24, 2005 - 30 comments

Inhabitat - "source on the future of design". Great finds like Tetris shelves, the Slumber Light, a transformer apartment, and Favela Chairs. (via the saucydwellings LJ community)
posted by Melinika on May 14, 2005 - 43 comments

Charles Eames (1907-78) and Ray Eames (1912-88) gave shape to America's twentieth century. Their lives and work represented the nation's defining social movements: the West Coast's coming-of-age, the economy's shift from making goods to the producing information, and the global expansion of American culture. This Library of Congress exhibit outlines major themes of the Eames' life and voluminous works, including architecture, furniture, and the film Powers of Ten. It is wonderfully illustrated with artifacts, photos of their life and work, and examples from the Eames' collection of 350,000 slides.
posted by carter on Jan 12, 2005 - 14 comments

Too many books? Not enough furniture? Problem solved.
posted by kenko on Nov 27, 2004 - 48 comments

Un-Fold. (quicktime clip) City Magazine asked 9 designers, from 9 cities across the world to design a chair in 90 days. Oh, and it had to fit in a FedEx box. Pics and more about the designers and the project.
posted by madamjujujive on Jun 18, 2004 - 26 comments

What makes for a great champagne chair? Design Within Reach sponsored a holiday contest to design a chair constructed from the cork and wire cages of champagne bottle. Judges had a difficult time deciding from the 400 entries that poured in. (via Buzz.)
posted by madamjujujive on Jan 19, 2004 - 7 comments

Is This All There Is To Modern Design? Although Design Within Reach is a commercial website, it's well put together, with interesting features that provide biographies and a a potted history of modern furniture design. However, like the plethora of coffee-table books on the subject, the uncomfortable (!) feeling remains that it crystalizes the accepted and the historical - the so-called modern classics - rather than engage with what is truly contemporary. This is, after all, highly traditional modernism and post-modernism. And it's rife. Where is the avant-garde? Is there one on view to ordinary mortals? You end up feeling that the truly new designs - this century's, after all - are being swept under the carpet, awaiting some boring committee process of consensus and approval.
posted by MiguelCardoso on Sep 29, 2003 - 35 comments

Verner Panton, a fantastic Danish architect and designer known for his wild interiors and furniture. “Most people spend their lives housing in dreary, grey-beige conformity, mortally afraid of using colours.” He definitely was not afraid. Tak skal du have, Verner!
posted by snez on Jan 13, 2003 - 10 comments

Pull up a folding chair and take a look at the folding chair's four thousand year history, thanks to the kind folks at designboom.
posted by ewagoner on Jul 16, 2002 - 7 comments

New April additions to the "Interior Desecrators" gallery of horrific 70's design will leave you in awe (or gouging your eyes out, it's your choice). You'll wonder who on earth would ever use a bathroom like this, if you were child how on earth could you sleep in this room, and why, why, why? It's already 20-30 years behind us, but I distinctly remember looking at my parents' Better Homes and Gardens books like this and wishing I lived in those high tech interiors. Remember to check back each month for updates.
posted by mathowie on Apr 14, 2001 - 14 comments

An Ode to the Aeron -- Something good may come out of the dotcom collapse at last! As they all go belly up, having lavished lots of their venture capital on $2000 office chairs, will the rest of us finally be able to afford these marvels of office architecture, even if we do have to settle for them being used?
posted by crunchland on Feb 3, 2001 - 27 comments

Poetictech has some pretty nice workstation desks (dang cool). I want the one that rotates 120 degrees every 8 hours. (warning: slow site)
posted by jamescblack on Oct 18, 2000 - 13 comments

furnish thy pad. pure design sells some of the best work from the new generation of designers...including douglas coupland (yes, *that* douglas coupland), karim rashad, and nick dine. and they sell it online. superbonus!
posted by patricking on Jun 18, 2000 - 7 comments