In a similar (or not so?) similar fashion, you could have your very own park bench – in as little as ten minutes, in fact, if you’re super strong and have a couple of people helping you out while you set it up.

These Tree Benches are a part of Utrecht-based spatial designer Rogier Martens‘ ”Aandeboom” series, which translates to something like “attached to trees.” Martens came up with these benches after the Dutch city of Amersfoort invited him to design a temporary bench for a local park.

All you need to set up the benches is a strong and sturdy tree trunk. The suspension system makes it quick and easy to “fasten” the bench onto the tree, so to speak.

These Tree Benches would be great to add additional seating to parks and other public areas during huge events or concerts. You should contact Rogier if you want to inquire about the pricing on his benches, in case you want one for yourself.

[via Pop Up City]

My niece has since outgrown the cradle, so it’s just sitting in my sister’s garage, collecting dust and taking up a huge amount of space. This is usually what happens with cribs and bassinets that babies eventually outgrow, so why not construct them to eventually serve as something that’s still functional when that time comes? Take Martin Price’s Rocking Cradle, for example.

At first glance, it looks like a typical cradle with a clean and simplistic structure. However, once the babies are all grown up, the cradle can be sawn right down the middle to convert it into two rocking chairs.

The structure of the cradle was already meant to incorporate two fully-functional, load-bearing rocking chairs, which can seat the average-sized adult. Now that’s value for your money, not to mention resourceful.

[via Apartment Therapy via Inhabitots via Chair Blog]

This bit of geeky awesomeness is the Starship Enterprise coffee table. It’s a one-of-a-kind handcrafted hardwood model of old NCC-1701-C, carefully placed under glass to protect it from phaser attacks (and spills.) It was made by wood artist Barry Shields, who couldn’t have a more appropriate name, unless it was Joe Nacelles, Steve Photon Torpedo, or Harry Warp Core.

Barry says it took him over a month to build it just the way he wanted, and it shows. I love how he even made the glass on top match the lines of the Enterprise. The base lifts the ship off the ground, making it look as if it’s hovering above the thick-pile planetary surface (rug) below.

It’s made from cherry, ash and poplar wood, along with steel supports and the aforementioned glass top. Barry doesn’t list the exact dimensions of the Enterprise itself, but the glass is 34″ x 54″, and the table is about 17″ tall, so it’d definitely a full-size coffee table. If you want it, beam yourself on over to Etsy, and get your credit card out – since it’s going to cost you a cool $3,100 (USD) if you want this in your home. Frankly, I think that’s a small price to pay to own the coolest coffee table in the neighborhood.

[via SUATMM]

This over-the-top looking setup gives you a comfy ergonomic leather seating unit with touch-screen controls, and a view to kill with three computer displays positioned just right for you to lean back and enjoy. The whole thing is motorized too, so you can adjust the angle of your environment without getting up out of your chair. It’s also got a work surface for a keyboard and mouse, and the monitors can be positioned at a flat eye-level if you want to get some work done.

They system wraps you entirely in its scorpion like design, ensuring an immersive experience equaled only by strapping on a super high-def head-mounted display (which doesn’t exist today.) Each LED-backlit LCD screen is a full 24″ display, with HD resolution, and they all connect up to your computer via a set of three HDMI cables. It’s also got built-in LED lighting both above and below the seating area, and a THX surround sound system. Each one is hand-built to your exact requirements, and even has an air filtration system on board.

MWE offers the Emperor 200 in other colors, so if white isn’t your thing, you can go with something a little bolder like red or black – which makes the whole scorpion thing much more effective. Priced at a whopping $44,750 (USD), this thing is definitely the Porsche of computer workstations. Though for that price, they should throw in a computer with the proper display cards an Xbox 360 and a PS3. The chair should have a massager too. Really, how much would that eat into their profit margins to throw those in?

If $45k is too rich for your blood, you might want to check out MWE’s “bargain priced” Emporer 1510, which does away with the fancy finishes and touchscreen remote, (plus you need to BYO displays), but is considerably more accessible with prices starting at “just” $6,200.

Well, I say it has to do with patience. And with intention.

All this talk about drawers isn’t about underwear, but about desk drawers. You know, the ones you slide out and push back in after you put some stuff into them. And not just any desk drawer, but just the drawers on Sanghyeok Lee’s unusual Listen to your hands table.

You see, when you push one drawer shut too fast, another one on the other end will open. Open one too carelessly, and another one somewhere will slam shut. This is because the drawers in Lee’s table are connected on the inside by a single, empty space. So if you push or pull too quickly, this pocket of air forces another one to open or close accordingly as well.

The lesson behind this interactive table is to “act with intention.” The only time when you can simply just open or close a drawer without causing one on the other end to close or open respectively is if you do it gently – with intention.

[via Architizer]

That’s where the Salangbang comes in. This piece of furniture is like a chair version of a cocoon. In fact, it looks cushy and comfortable enough to serve as a bed.

You can easily fold it open if you’ve got company so you can share the space. And when you’re alone or if you need some space, just fold it back shut and swing the doors closed.

The Salangbang was designed by Seung Yong Song, who drew inspiration from the cottage he used to live in, saying: “Opening the doors, the cottage became one altogether with the yard, streams and nature. That cottage of the time is gone, but good memories from that place create another illusion. The same type of two objects may face each other, stand side by side, or stand alone. By opening and closing the door, space is connected or divided. Even within an extensive space, It is possible to create a cozy space of (your) own.”

[via Chair Blog]

Not that I’m encouraging you to go out and join the riot when there’s one, but who knows when this might actually come in handy? Attached on the other side of the table’s surface are two handles that you’re supposed to use to hold the shield as you fend off whoever’s coming at you with broken bottles and bricks.

It looks heavy though, so you might need some help from the crowd to lift it from its horizontal position laying on the welded steel frame of the table.

The Riot Table was designed by Max & Max.

[via Yanko Design]

The Oturakast Cabinet was designed by Rianne Koens. The cabinet is made up of separate drawer units that are meant to be stacked up, one upon the other. What makes the design even more unique is that each separate drawer has foldable legs underneath.

So if you happen to have some people over at the apartment but don’t have enough chairs and stools to go around, just unstack your drawers, pull out the legs, and gather every around in a circle.

[via The Design Home]

You choose the color and this entire rear end of a Porsche is hand-built, with 100% original parts. Also available are other cars, like this 1959 Cadillac Coupe de Ville, which holds a 52″ Sony LCD. It’s neat and all, but it would be cool if you could get the front end too, and create a nice Portal effect in your home, but that’s just me.

[via Autoblog via Dvice]

Yep, what you’re looking at here is the most awesome bar for serving up your finest booze – all in the shape of an AT-AT. Luckily, it has yet to be brought down by a snow speeder’s tow cables, as that would be a horrible tragedy. The cabinet appears to be handcrafted from wood and brass, and stands at least 4 or 5 feet tall – unless those guys in the photo are Ewoks disguised as humans.

I know not from whence this tasty morsel of awesome comes, other than the fact that these photos were posted up on imgur about a week ago. If you happen to have been involved in the construction of this monument to geeky greatness, speak up and take credit where credit is due. I’ll be over here in the corner, keeping warm with a Hoth Toddy.

[via Obvious Winner]

While it’s not exactly beach weather around here in Chicago, I could see hanging out in one of these for a tailgating party – as long as you don’t mind being ridiculed by your football buddies.

The R2-D2 folding armchair is available now over at ThinkGeek for $39.99 (USD).

Well, it gets lonely no more because you can actually rock with a friend, a relative, or your significant other in the Sway rocking chair. The Sway, designed by Markus Krauss, is comprised of a padded shell of a seat supported by a steel frame.

It looks like a geometrically-shaped chair that’s been stretched out at weird angles, but it’s a rocking chair that can seat two. No more lonely memories or lone afternoons because you’ll have enough room to share that seat with a friend (or a lover.)

But if you happen to all by your lonesome, then there’s still no worries because now you’ll have more space for yourself to stretch your legs out. Unfortunately, the Sway chair isn’t available for sale at this point, but if you’re skilled enough, you could actually make one yourself.

[via psfk via Oh Gizmo! ]

Pedro Machado’s T@tris concept looks like an ordinary sideboard – until you look more closely, and you realize that it’s made up of a bunch of perfectly-stacked Tetris bricks.

What I really like about it is that the Tetris pieces aren’t simply decorative, but that they slide out to transform the piece into a small dining table for two, and also serve as storage drawers.

I could actually envision an entire series of furniture that works using the interlocking block idea like this. It would work particularly well for a desk, or maybe even bedside tables or a media center. For now, the T@tris appears to be just a series of concept renderings, but if Machado ever does produce this furniture, I hope he offers the option to get them in authentic Tetris block colors too.

Also, now that I think about it – if you did stack your Tetris blocks this well, your furniture would cease to exist, right?

[via Behance]

As you can see in the picture, the Delen has a camera mounted on a post so that it has a view of the whole table. It can take pictures at preset or specified intervals, then wirelessly transmits those pictures to a nearby computer. David’s custom software will then automatically upload those pictures to a social networking site. With this design, you can easily make a slideshow or even a stop-motion animation showing what your day is like – what you’re working on, what you eat, how many dishes have to be piled up on your table before you make an effort to clean it up, etc.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I think that the Delen is neat software in gimmicky furniture’s clothing. It’s not really the table itself that’s special or that handles the sharing part – it just happens to be where the camera is. In fact, I think David should just ditch the table and develop the camera or even just the software itself. Leave those thugs to answer their questions themselves.

[via Design Milk via NotCot]

The chair was designed by Alejandro Cerón and was featured at the Moscow Design Week 2011 as a work of art-slash-piece of furniture that showcased organic architecture. It’s described as representing the “symbiosis between technology and nature,” and all I can say is, I had no idea how messy the relationship is between those two.

From a certain angle, the chair looks like a horse on its hind legs. From another, it’s like a lobster caught up and tangled in a bunch of weeds. And yet from another angle, the Beautiful Mess chair looks like a dinosaur nursing its young. The designer himself describes the work as something that “explores and blurs the boundaries between art and design,” although both seem pretty related to me in the first place.

And the only time the Beautiful Mess chair looks like a chair is when someone’s actually sitting on it. Looks mighty uncomfortable, though I can’t deny that it would make an attractive addition to anyone’s den.

[via Yanko Design]

These Pac-Man ghost tables are made by Austin, Texas artist Ryan Fitzpatrick of Masters of Fate, and can be made in pretty much any ghostly color scheme you’d like. Inky, Blinky, Pinky, or Clyde – they’re all available – since each table is handmade, of course.

Each  hand-painted wood table measures 33″ x 36″, and you can request whatever height legs you want, so Blinky can work as a coffee table, laptop desk, or even a small cafe table when you’re gobbling down some power pellets for dinner.

You can find the Pac-Man ghost table over at Etsy for $200 (USD).

The chest also has another kind of puzzle in the form of hidden locks for each drawer. When the drawers are locked, you have to remove the colored wooden tiles and look for dowels underneath, which you then push to open the drawers. Since you can rotate the drawers and rearrange the wooden tiles, it can be a fun albeit easy to solve puzzle for Makendo’s kids.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Check out Instructables for the full how-to.

[via Neatorama]

For his Anrealage fashion line, Japanese designer Kunihiko Morinaga took inspiration from the squared-off pixel block to create his F/W 2011 collection, which includes shoes with pixel heels, pixelated prints on on jackets, sweaters and slacks.

But my favorite part of the collection isn’t the clothing. It’s the pixel furniture, which includes a pair of awesome blocky armchairs, a matching café table, a pixel-patterned Oriental rug, and some awesome pixel light bulb fixtures.

I would live in a house filled with this stuff if I could. But I can’t. So for now, the only way to experience this is to head to the Anrealage showroom in Harajuku, Tokyo.

[KoiKoiKoi via Fancy]

Pictured above is the Rev – ->Table, the first product from Kestner’s company Supermechanical. It has a solid oak surface and laser-cut cold-rolled steel legs. I’m sure those are great materials, but I’m more interested in the QR Code etched on its surface. You see, you can scan that code using a smartphone to gain access to the table’s CAD file, or its digital blueprint. Armed with that information, you can now make replacement parts or even modded parts, safe in the knowledge that they’ll be compatible with the table. Hell, I bet it’s even possible to replicate the whole thing if you like.

You can order the Rev – ->Table from Supermechanical for $667 (USD). I don’t need or want such an expensive table, but again, it’s the QR code concept that I’m stoked about. Imagine if everything we bought had a similar link to its schematic. Headphones broken? Well maybe you can still fix it, just look at the schematic. Want to mod your store-bought PC? Look at the schematic to get started.

A variety of third-party parts manufacturers would pop up as well, making replaceable parts more available and cheaper, so even if you can’t make the part yourself you can just order it. Combine this with 3D printers, and we’ll be ordering and receiving parts instantly. While we’re dreaming, why don’t we incorporate the manual and links to the support department on the QR code as well? That way if you lose the paper manual – and you will – you’ll still have access to the information in a digital format.

Then again, many manufacturers may not be so keen to reveal the blueprints and schematics to their products. Plus there’s the great inevitable – QR codes on torrent sites (Build.Your.Own.Xbox.720.Torrent, or DIYPioneerKuroQRCodebyEZTV.torrent). I guess it’s up to the folks at iFixit to make guides for every conceivable product.

[via Cool Hunting]

The couch you see pictured above has been fitted with an internal combustion engine to propel the normally stationary piece of furniture to speeds of 101 miles/hour. I think that’s even faster than the speed most people drive their cars at (specifically, me.)

The front of the couch has been fitted with a sawed down coffee table of some sort, for aerodynamics, I suppose. Check out the video below to see just how fast a couch can be made to go:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

And just in case you’re wondering–yes, the couch you see above broke the previous record and now holds the title as the World’s Fastest Couch. Way to go!

[via Autoblog]