Hasta La Ideas

In addition to plain ol’ beautiful furniture designs, this year we saw a lot of unusual pieces that demonstrated really outside-of-the-box thinking. Here are 21 of our faves.

The Brico series of chairs, by furniture designer Martin Kechayas, are made of offcuts from the production of other chairs.

We think of bamboo as an extraordinarily hard material, but industrial designer Brian Chang figured out a brilliant way to use bamboo to create comfortable, springy seating.

Industrial designer Eva Dugintseva designed Som, an easy-to-assemble 3D printed chair.

Jef and Jess Behnke, a/k/a Two Moose Design, have a creative take on tambour cabinets.

These cantilevered Tripod Tables are by Fernweh Woodworking.

Willy Guhl, one of Switzerland’s first industrial designers, created these radical fiber cement Loop Chairs in the 1950s.

Simone Giertz’s swivel-arm chair valet is simply brilliant.

Korean artist/designer Oneseo Choi makes furniture from aluminum extrusions.

These SAI 39 benches, by industrial designer Robin Bourgeois, are made from plywood industrial waste.

Mitten State Woodworks works in an unusual furniture design niche: Behind-the-sofa consoles.

Chinese company Cluvens makes these over-the-top, powered “computer cockpits.”

Carpentopod, designed and built by Netherlands-based game developer Giliam de Carpentier, is a coffee table that walks.

The hooks on this simple Charlotte Perriand wall rack are pure form follows function.

Italian design brand Mavimatt produces this UFO (“Unidentified Furniture Object”) rocking chair.

This South African builder has made a series of clever, transforming space-saving workshop furniture designs.

This one is here in the “strange” category because airplane seats usually suck. In contrast, there are a lot of nice design touches in Cathay-Pacific’s new Premium Economy seats.

There’s also lots of nice, functional design details in Grovemade’s handsome standing desk.

And some unusual design details in this Hans J. Wegner sewing table.

This FurnSpin system, by Hettich, features a surprising cabinet mechanism.

Speaking of surprising mechanisms, furniture designer Jory Brigham shares this clever furniture hack: How to make invisible cabinet hinges by using ball bearings.

Lastly, not a furniture piece, but a pleasing trend for cat owners: Repairing cat-damaged furniture with embroidery.