Workout gear is almost always clunky and unsightly; gray equipment haphazardly crammed into a basement room that only just checks the box when it comes to an apartment building's list of promoted amenities. Mirrored walls jarringly cut across cheesy cityscape or jungle scene murals and rubber mat flooring. Bad EDM music pulsates at full volume. With function superseding form, aesthetics always seem to be an afterthought.
The concept is brilliantly simple yet visually striking. The chair features layers upon layers of cushioned upholstery stacked together, creating this incredible rainbow effect along the edges. Each layer represents a different color or texture, much like flipping through pages in a designer's sample book. It's the kind of thing that makes you do a double take. From one angle, you see a sophisticated seating piece with a clean, minimalist frame. From another, you catch those vibrant cascading layers that give it personality and depth.
From a single material, a Hyderabad-based design studio creates a wide range of site-specific installations, furnishings, and decor. It's all in the name of the firm, The Wicker Story, which was founded in 2019 by architect Priyanka Narula. Capable of being formed into everything from abstract constructions to functional objects, the natural material lends itself a huge variety of pieces that vary in size and complexity.
It's not surprising that there's little separation between work and life for the artisan, who finds inspiration everywhere, and revels in exploration. "A lot of times my work peeps into my personal life, and I kind of just have to let it be," says Maya. "It's happened that I am in bed about to rest, and in between moments of lucidity, all of a sudden I have a design solution that I have been trying to figure out."
There's something quietly rebellious about seeing delicate leather straps wrapped around cold, hard steel. It's unexpected, a bit contradictory, and exactly what makes Nara Lee's Pul collection so captivating. The Paris-based architect just unveiled this sculptural furniture series at The Sun Room exhibition in Seoul, and it's turning heads for all the right reasons. What strikes you first about these pieces isn't just their minimalist beauty, but the story they tell about urban nature.
Arrakis 3.0 is the latest iteration of Mark Rehorst's sand table experiments, this time designed from the start as a practical coffee table. Under a standard 24-by-48-inch glass top, a steel ball slowly traces patterns in a bed of white sand, guided by a hidden mechanism. From above, all you see is a glowing sandbox under glass, constantly redrawing itself while your coffee sits on top.
Laptops have escaped the desk and now show up on sofas, lounge chairs, and every in-between space, often with terrible posture as a side effect. Balancing a laptop on your knees or hunching over a coffee table is fine for checking email but not for real work. The Cosi laptop table is a small, adjustable surface designed to follow those habits and make them more ergonomic.
From tabletop objects to more grand home furnishings, the things that fill our home have a cumulative effect on how we feel as well as the perception of our personal space. With intention at their core, the Ahmedabad-based, interdisciplinary design studio Design ni Dukkan blends human intuition with distinct materiality and finish to create such pieces with the power of presence.
Bookmarker addresses this by treating reading as an activity worth designing for specifically. The table's form creates a clear place for books in progress, making them visible rather than buried. Japanese cypress construction gives it a warm, tactile presence that reads as furniture first, while its cutouts and slots serve the practical needs of someone settling in with a novel and a drink.
Restraint is not part of Diaz's visual vocabulary. His Hutton mirror features 22k gold-leaf spikes, the Sabaudia daybed has wings reminiscent of vintage car fins, and the Jujuy Trastero cabinet features horns. These whimsical improvisations also have a deliberate formality resulting in pieces that Diaz imagines should have existed historically. Designer Ryan Lawson, another admirer, says, "When you see Mike's work it has a sense that it has always been there, like you've stumbled upon some kind of historic relic."
In southern Mexico City, within a double-height house designed by OW Arquitectos, two pieces by Omar Wade, Banca Tres (Bench Three) and Silla Cuatro (Chair Four), investigate the relationship between space, materiality, and light. The , characterized by skylights and large windows, provides the setting for this dialogue, framing the interaction of furniture and architecture. Together, the two wooden pieces present an exploration of scale and construction.
These stools from designer Dom Johnson are made simply yet thoughtfully, construction minimal yet meticulously considered. A relatively humble material, MDF, rendered in a satisfying thickness adds weight to the trio, each in varying heights and leg designs. Existing beautifully as separate pieces or together, each is finished with an unobtrusive oil that elevates and protects.
The Fray Chair is a vibrant new concept that celebrates the intersection of playful design and bold color experimentation. Designed by Liam de la Bedoyere for the Pantone Dualities Rendering Challenge 2025, this chair is not yet in production but is already capturing attention for its fresh approach to both structure and style. The challenge invited designers to reimagine products using at least three shades from Pantone's Dualities material pack. The result is a striking series of visualizations that highlight just how transformative color
Is there a piece of furniture more important to your aesthetic than one of the best sofas? We know that having (or not having) a top-tier couch can make or break your home's decor, and to help ensure you never, ever end up with a sad sofa selection-or worse, a futon-we've curated a list of best-selling silhouettes to support your search for pieces with major star quality.
The Barvinok table features a mesmerizing color gradient achieved through a unique heat treatment process that resembles the bright blues of real periwinkle blossoms.
Michael Jantzen's Interactive Transformation Table transforms traditional furniture norms by allowing users to engage and reshape its form, turning motion into an artistic experience.
Mark Braun's NEXT unit for Mueller is designed for small apartments, providing multifunctional furniture that adapts to changing needs while occupying minimal space, thanks to its mobility.
The Orbit Chair by Julia Kononenko is a striking example of how contemporary furniture can transform the atmosphere of a room, inviting conversation and anchoring the space.
"People are always at the core of my designs," Bak shares. "With this desk, I consciously made room for both work and leisure - side by side. When our surroundings adapt to us and our lives, it means we have more time and energy for both work and family."
The Sitter Chair's genius lies in its simplicity. A single shape, doubled up to form both a seat and a side table, this innovative design transforms one geometric form into a complete furniture solution.
