Furniture designs: Make room for imagination

Furniture designers try to keep up with changing trends by experimenting and evolving.

KARACHI:

Back in the days when television show “Friends” was the rage, Joey and Chandler’s recliners were thought to be an innovative piece of furniture. With the turn of the century, however, furniture buyers became more tolerant of eccentric furniture designs and also became more eager to experiment.

With everything seemingly being made to entertain and amuse the moody consumer in the contemporary world, furniture too, has started to show some sense of humour. One branch of furniture is odd furniture which puts every individual’s ‘what if?’ into reality and shocks you more than a celebrity’s bad Botox experience.

The equation of unconventional concepts and durable material has produced a one-of-a-kind range of furnishing. Certain unorthodox furniture designers like Straight Line Designs are pushing the limits on everything from chairs, beds and tables to mirrors and even rugs and wallpapers.

Chairs to the good life

After discovering a market for ‘crazy’ furnishing, furniture designers embarked on the mission to offer something more than sombre and typical Victorian and Elizabethan furniture designs. From rocking chairs with three levels of arms serving as seating space for small children who herald the return of story time, to a suggestive chair that looks like a woman’s legs, furniture designers like Urbanist allow their buyers to think in all dimensions. With such innovative designs, it is impossible for the buyers to just walk past them without being amused by the oddity of these pieces. Other special mentions in this category include seating that actually looks like an oversized wood shaving, as well as sofas that look like they have been made out of carbonated bubbles or even others that have been designed to look like they are melting.

Just a little beds up

When poet Ogden Nash said ‘The bed is a bundle of paradoxes’, perhaps he was predicting the burst of modernisation of beds that would occur in the 21^st century. Today’s furniture designers have made the bed more than just a pod you can crash into after a long day’s work. Furniture designers, Ultimatebed have taken hammocks a step forward by adding grand finesse to it and garnishing their bed designs with tropical flair. The collection of artistically casual beds that hang in the air and still manage to look as comfortable as ever, has enabled people to feel like they are on a holiday while napping in their room.  Other designs that have tickled our fancy include beds that look like burgers and others that are in the shape of a nest with an artistic leafless tree looming over it.

Bringing swag to the table

From making tables that look like blood spatter to the ones designed in the shape of a dog urinating, furniture designers are sending out a clear message that they are not afraid to experiment. However, these creations are still a breath of fresh air in the field of furniture designing. By moulding new materials into wacky designs, furniture makers are coming up with state-of-the-art furniture which may not be friendly to the norms of our society but makes sure that you stand out with your peculiar sense of decor.

Other strange pieces of furniture include coat hangers designed in the shape of a baby’s hands and feet, chest of drawers in the shape of a woman’s corset and cupboard that looks like a time bomb. All of these designs have given a new edge and are a way to give furniture, a distinct signature look.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2011.