One of the less memorable parts of Jonathan Swift‘s Gulliver’s Travels sees the titular voyager astonished at the sight of “an Island in the Air, inhabited by Men, who are able (as it should seem) to raise, or sink, or put into a Progressive Motion, as they pleased.” This is Laputa, where inhabitants combine mathematics and music in wildly impractical ways and live in homes that are free of right angles (paging Frank Lloyd Wright!). The floating kingdom was an inspiration for Shiro Kuramata‘s final furniture design: the “Laputa” bed (pictured), created for a 1991 group exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence, Italy. Nearly 14 feet in length, the aluminum bed comes with Kuramata’s “Star Piece” silk sheets. One of the 30 beds made hits the block tomorrow afternoon at Phillips de Pury & Company as part of its Design Masters sale. Ready to float away to dreamland in Laputa? The bed is estimated to fetch between $80,000-$120,000, so probably best to sleep on it.
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