IKEA Uppleva
Say what you will about those goofy Swedes from Ikea, but you know as well as I do – you’ve got something from them that you absolutely can’t do without. Now, after building four chairs and a table from Ikea last year, I can only imagine the level of language heavily dipped in vulgar verbosity required to build this particular item, yet, I love the ingenuity of it. This is what people want, give it to them – it’s such a difficult concept to get across to big business these days, isn’t it?
The Uppleva is an all-in-one entertainment system, it includes a cable hide-away, full HD flat screen TV, blu-ray / dvd / cd player, speakers and a wireless subwoofer. All of which will somehow magically come in a flat packed box with nefarious instructions on how to create it. Watch the video below for full details.
If I may impart a level of Ikea wisdom I have used to great avail over the years – wherever Ikea has you put two pieces of wood together sans bonding agent, add wood glue, and you will be tremendously happier with the finished product.
This looks like a winner from the Apple of cheap furniture.
$TBD – coming this fall to Ikea’s worldwide.
Check out the press release here (you’ll have to use Google to translate it.)
The Sound Sofa
Concerned about where to put your rear speakers? Worried about sound coverage being optimal? Have you considered putting the speakers in your sofa? I’ll bet you hadn’t up until now. CSL-Sofas out of the UK has you covered with their latest sofa design, the sound sofa. No word on airplay capability, but there is bluetooth and an iPod dock – so you’re covered.
$1600 Approx.
Check out the whole range at csl-sofas.co.uk
Star Trek Enterprise NCC 1701-C Coffee Table
I can see this table in a corporate waiting room. There is just something so kitschy and awesome about this table that it has me wondering how it’s possible our world has gone from admonishing geeks to celebrating them. I can honestly remember a time when you were a massive dweeb if you used the “innernet”, nowadays I’m posting this table as a kitschy item. That’s pretty amazing. So’s the table, actually.
Etsy’s Barry Sheilds is the creator and he’ll sell it to you.
This Star Trek table is made from ash, poplar and cherry wood. It took me a month to build it and 2 tries to cut the 1/4″ glass the way I wanted but it turned out nicely. The glass is cut to look as though its in motion and the base was designed to portray the ship in orbit over a planet. It has a beautiful rubbed poly finish coat for complete protection for many years to come. Its solid, sturdy and you CAN put your feet up on it after a long day at the office. This is a one of a kind! You will not see another one like it. Glass dimensions are 34″ x 54″ x 17″ tall
$3100
Check out Barry Shield’s store on Etsy here.
Kensington Leather Sofa
While not actually an old, handcrafted lovingly restored piece of absolute beauty, it’s not far off. Yes, it’s a replica, but sweet cows in heaven, if you’re going to replicate something – replicate this. If your smoking room is without a proper couch to flank one side of your pool table, my friend, you have found your couch.
A masterful reproduction by Timothy Oulton of the classic Chesterfield style, our sofa evokes the grand gentlemen’s club tradition.
Features deep hand-tufting and rolled arms
Detailed with 1,500 hand-hammered brass studs and 85 buttons
Upholstered in supple leather
Hand-finished by skilled craftsmen in a 7-step process
Develops a burnished patina over time
Kiln-dried hardwood frame
Pocket-coil spring suspension
With down-blend fill (feather and down wrapped around a 4½” foam core)
Shown in Vintage Cigar.
$3995 – $4670
Available here from Restoration Hardware
The Octopus Chair
Want to know something? A group of more than one Octopus are not called “Octopi”, as is commonly thought. It’s actually just “Octopuses”. The reasoning is due to the fact that Octopus is not a latin word, nor derived from latin. So there ya go. Learn something new every day.
I’m slightly worried about the lean-back-ability of this particular chair, but it’s evil-genius-ness kind of supersedes that need. It’s just so awesome. You can be the proud owner for a paltry $54,000 dollars too. Pocket change my dear friend, pocket change.
Strike the proper tone at your next dinner party by parking yourself on a giant octopus. Exquisitely detailed (and just a little bit creepy), this brooding bodyshock of opulent dining chair and inky black leviathan is the perfect platform for announcing your plans for world domination, releasing the Kraken, or scaring the living giblets out of your daughter’s new boyfriend.
Created by Spanish artist Maximo Riera, The Octopus Chair waves a dismissive tentacle at questions like “WTF!?, “Why?” and “Where on earth would I put it?”. Who cares if it doesn’t match your other flat-packed fjürniture? So what if it costs more than Captain Nemo’s submarine? We guarantee almost any problem can be overcome when you have an enormous octopus watching your back.
I’d just like to point the beauty of this particular line from the quote above, “Who cares if it doesn’t match your other flat-packed fjürniture?” Fjürniture! hahaha!
Each chair is hand-built by a team of over thirty professionals, overseen by Riera himself. The rich leather upholstery on the chair is incredibly comfortable. Plus, the seat on this lavish cephalopodian throne is one of the few places in the room where you’ll avoid the oversized octopod’s steely gaze. Comfortable and discomforting, at the same time? Absolutely!
As part of a larger range of “animal chairs” by Riera, the Octopus Chair is being produced in very limited numbers. So catch this spectacular tentacular armchair now, before they’re gone for good. So long, suckers!
$54,000
Check it out here at Firebox.
Fjaril Dresser Drawers by Jakob Jorgensen
A beautiful dresser that spills its drawers forth to reveal their contents. At rest the dresser seems boxy if unspectacular. Begin to interact with it and it becomes alive, yielding layer upon layer like a peeled onion. A piece worth handing down from generation to generation.
Fjaril is a drawer. It expands rhythmically and during this movement changes itself from a simple box into a functional sculpture.
Fjarill is sold as a limited edition at Galerie Maria Wettergren in Paris.
www.mariawettergren.com
$TBD
Check it out here.
Classic Leather Chair
Oh, how I pine for the craftsmanship of the first half of the 1900′s – just look at the splendour of this chair.
I know that often times you’ll hear blanket statements and philosophical asides about how everything was better back then, but that’s simply just not true. Certain things, there are certain things – I will concede that. I won’t concede that rotary phones were a better option to an iPhone 4S. Furniture, my friends, furniture is one of those things though. Our world has been transformed into an Ikeacceptable utopia, where particle board and vinyl is considered a quality item. At least we still have pictures.
This chair was probably reasonably priced for it’s time. It’s appreciated well, I’d say. There’s an apt word, “appreciated”.
$1795
Check it out here.
Barrel Back Desk Chair by Edward Wormley
This fine example of 50′s engineering and elegance comes to us from the mind of Edward Wormley who famously worked for the Dunbar company designing a number of their lines of furniture. Including the sumptuous Barrel Back Desk Chair.
$8500
Check it out here.
Bluelounge – StudioDesk
There’s nothing better than a well engineered product. With desks, more often than not, you’re not buying on the engineering so much as the build quality and simple functionality (it has a stable top, and possibly drawers). A well engineered desk is the StudioDesk.
$599
Check it out here.
Herman Miller Airia Desk
As with any Herman Miller product (we’ve featured their products previously here) what you can expect to find is a high degree of design and engineering coupled with a simple practicality. That’s what makes their product lines so sought after.
Sculptured solid walnut frame, sleek aluminum legs, dual-level desktop. An elegant desk for the home office that strikes a harmonious balance between simple function and timeless style.
$2199
Check it out here.
Skypak – Airline Trolley Minibars
The height of fashion? Tres chic? Regardless of how campy it may be, it’s one hell of great conversation piece. When you’re rolling out the after dinner coffee, all eyes will be on you and your SkyPak – just make sure everyone’s seatback and tray tables and in their upright and locked positions, cause modern design is gonna be a bumpy ride.
Whether as a coffee cart, “sweets drawer” for tasty treats, as book cupboard, as wine rack or as luxurious shoe cabinet. But not only that – the chic, functional trolleys also cut a fine figure as a extravagant wardrobe, as DVD rack , coffee bar or home entertainment center. Whatever and wherever – the SKYPAK airline trolley is simply a must have!
Howard Miller 693-000 Ithaca Bar
There’s your friends over there by the bar, laughing, joking, one leg on the up on the brass foot rest leaning in to your Howard Miller Ithaca bar. Imagine that.
The Ithaca Bar by Howard Miller is finished in Hampton Cherry on select hardwoods and veneers, with olive ash burl veneers. The laminated, rare Italian marble top is removable for easily handling. Oval-shaped bar with decorative frame molding on the front and sides and antique brass-tone footrest. Hanging stemware rack. Drawers with quality, dovetail construction and full-extension metal drawer guides. Laminated, hinged, lift-up prep shelf. One black granite cutting board that fits inside a drawer.
Howard Miller 693-000 Ithaca Bar
