Let’s be honest, our modern urban homes can be quite cramped! Space constraint is a major issue, and we often find ourselves squeezing through our own belongings. It’s the ultimate test of our maneuvering skills. However, transformative furniture designs are an ingenious solution to this issue of space restraints. And, we’ve curated a collection of super functional and space-saving furniture designs that promise to not only transform themselves but your living space as well! From a work desk that can transform into a lounger, to a piece of furniture that grows with your child, this eclectic mix of unique furniture designs are the much-needed space-saving solution we need for our modern-day apartments!
‘Chaise Renversée’ is a desk that can also transform into a long chair by the famous French architect Pierre-Louis Gerlier. The literal translation of Chaise Renversée is ‘chair overturned’, I love how simply the French put everything. Since we are all cooped up in our homes, we are constantly finding ways to optimize space. Especially if you live in a city, you are likely to have everyday objects that are modular so that you have a functional space. Our current situation and the need to be flexible within a small space is exactly what inspired Gerlier to design the Chaise Renversée. It is the perfect blend of work from home and Netflix from home into one piece of modern furniture, it provides a stable table area to work and can then transform into the ‘Chaise Lounge’ when you want to relax.
Sustainable furniture design studio Ori adds a WFH apparatus called the Cloud Bed to the transformative furniture mix, merging an office and desk setup with a cantilevered lofted bed that descends to the floor to really hone in the mutability of working from home. In its initial form, the Cloud Bed features a working desk and table beneath a lofted bed. Built for hospitality interiors and personal spaces, this space-saving work from home solution was designed to cover a small footprint inside the home. UL certified to ensure the bed remains lofted and close to the ceiling during working hours, the desk area folds into itself, merging with the floor as the bed descends from its raised position.
Pupupula recently debuted their Tree Clothes Rack Series that transforms through the years from a simple wooden clothing rack to either wall-mountable or upright coat racks. While the construction process is fairly involved, including lots of heavy-duty machine operation and precision detail sanding, assembling Tree Clothes Rack’s initial form is simplified as a result. Requiring few, if any tools for assembly, the Tree Clothes Rack Series utilizes wooden pegs and corresponding holes in order to transform into different structures that adapt to the user’s varying and evolving needs. Once Tree Clothes Rack’s preliminary product reaches the end of its life cycle, it can later be transformed into either a single-beam, pegged coat rack or one that’s wall-mountable.
NG Architects created Spring, a multifunctional table that blooms into a chair with a backrest at the push of a button. Spring comprises a cylindrical shape that increases or decreases in height according to its desired function. At its lowest height of 500mm, Spring serves as a simple side table with a natural wood top. Then, by simply pressing the table down, Spring’s built-in compression springs are activated and morph the side table into a chair with a backrest. By following the same pushing tactic, the Spring chair can reach its maximum height of 900mm, transforming into a table that can work as a centerpiece for a small studio space. While the main building material used to construct Spring is oak wood, the furniture’s compression springs are made from aluminum, while natural and white paint colors coat the sides and top of Spring.
This coffee table doubles down as a gaming console and it is exactly what we need while staying home in 2021. An homage to retro gaming machines and furniture enthusiasts, this coffee table is one of its kind. Swedish designer Love Hulten has created a slim slide-out console with 2-player arcade joysticks & push-button gaming controls. It is inspired by the old-school gaming arcades and includes the big buttons as well as a joystick that is also a knob for the coffee table. The custom-crafted table features a wireless gaming system that connects with your smart TV for modern yet classic home gaming. With a classic American walnut and brass aesthetic, the table’s form will appeal to most and allow it to blend in any interior style.
CoZee XL is four pieces of furniture in one, growing alongside your toddler and providing everlasting comfort and familiarity for years to come. CoZee XL initially functions as the beloved Bedside Crib, which allows your baby to sleep in their own separate bed right at your side so you can develop that special, physical bond early on in childhood. The Bedside Crib can be used for co-sleeping or as a stand-alone crib, thanks to a hinge mechanism that unlocks one side of your baby’s bed to position it next to yours for sound sleeping and ’round-the-clock monitoring. Once your baby outgrows the size of their crib, CoZee expands into a Cot. The Cot is specifically designed for babies and toddlers from 6 months to two years of age. Thanks to the Bedside Crib’s frame’s hinge features, the Cot also allows for easy access and reasonable supervision throughout the night.
The Hourglass Multifunctional Shelf a worthy winner of the A’ Design Award! The hourglass shelf takes inspiration from the passage of time, and the functionality of the shelf changes throughout the day. Starting as a coat rack in the early mornings that holds your outdoor wear, the product’s main functionality becomes that of a shelf – to keep your knick-knacks in place. Finally, as the sun goes down, the design works as a detachable lamp, giving light and completing its cycle across the day. “The hourglass is the symbol of time, and the charm of time affects the tide-ups and downs, years change. The change of different roles reminds people to follow the direction of time, perceive the years and harvest exquisite life.” The detachable element of the lamp brings sheer joy to me! As a person surrounded by screens throughout the day, the lamp’s shape and portability make it almost meditative, a chance to literally disconnect and take some time off.
The newly crowned royalty in modular furniture has to be designer Chang Kuei Fang. The BACK TO BED sofa is multifunctional and modular enough to be an elegant lounger or a snuggly bed for the kids. The combination is such, that if you put four of the sofa chairs together, you can make it a warm bed. And if you’d like to, you can play around with the armrests, dividers, and backrests to make new combinations. As far as the details go, the sofa uses brass knobs on the undersides and substitute traditional metal connectors. A rubber or silicone band works with the knobs to give you the configurations you’d like. Change from a 3-seater sofa, L-shaped sofa, a single bed, or a double bed.
Davoodian’s MeshTure furniture system employs the use of steel piping, quick release clamps, and expandable elastic textiles to create triangular steel pipe structures. The triangular module’s three sides can be resized and joined together to produce different furniture designs like coffee tables and light fixtures. A single triangular module consists of six steel pipes joined together through telescopic tubing, which enables users to adjust each module’s size according to their needs. Wrapped around the surface of each module, an elastic textile adapts to each module’s changing size and provides warm, translucent lighting when outfitted as light fixtures. Three quick-release clamps fasten modules to one another and provide dependable sturdiness when using MeshTure to configure furniture pieces like tables or nightstands.
“The HUSH provides a quiet space in the midst of a busy hotel, airport, office, or library in an age of exponential population growth, where privacy and peaceful respite is an increasingly precious commodity,” explains Freyja Sewell, the designer.
