Bookcase that cunningly stores a table and chairs

Orla Reynolds's "As If From Nowhere" is a bookcase with four removable chairs and a dining table cunningly worked into its frame. It's basically a storage unit for an extra table.

As if from nowhere (via Bookshelf)

• [m0nkyman]

  Where can I order one?

• [nosehat]

  Lovely to look at.

  Are they made of metal?  If any part of it got bent or warped at all, it looks like it would have trouble sliding together again.

• [Custom Built Surrey]

  What a fantastic idea. Who makes them?

• [dagfooyo]

  Beautiful design and great concept.  Those look like rather uncomfortable chairs though.

• [jwkrk]

  Clever design, but those chairs look mighty uncomfortable.

• [timquinn]

  cunning might be overstating it.

  • [Preston Sturges]

    Cunning stunt? 

• [Carrie Overgaard]

  Very cool!  I’m not liking that they are metal, perhaps wood is a better choice (and add a few colorful cushions to velcro on top for added comfort).

• [Ed Ligget. Tuba.]

  Without diagonal supports, you dare not tilt back in those chairs or let anyone very large sit on them…
  Clever design though.

  • [nox]

    the chairback could be one solid piece. Wouldn’t fix the problem, but it’d help.

• [Terry Border]

  Clever, but next time use a video camera.

• [Little Mouse]

  There’s something about those table and chairs that makes me think of the furniture in my primary school. If that’s the case the tables will have sharp corners and the chairs will be uncomfortable.

  I like the idea though. If I could get it with the furniture made with a chunkier frame in wood I’d consider buying it to also house my ever expanding book collection. Death to trees!

• [B E Pratt]

   I like the idea, but the colors really suck.

• [kP]

  Landing with a thud on a flatbed cart at your local IKEA in 3…2…1..!

• [noah django]

  awesome, but they better make the furniture all white, too.  My living room is not a kindergarten.

  maybe they could make the chair backs/seats in canvas so they can arch more?  plus:  lighter.  those solid backs look like they hurt.

• [penguinchris]

  I agree with the naysayers that there are some obvious flaws because of the materials used. However, unlike most “clever” furniture designs, I don’t think there are major flaws with the concept itself. Work out the obvious durability issue and you’ve got a great piece of furniture for people with limited space (or just for extra furniture like Cory said).

• [BunnyShank]

  ah but imagine if sam maloof had got a hold of that design…

• [keiren david]

  A little flimsy maybe. No support struts on the chairs or table.

• [pKp]

  Yeah, great concept, and I’m thinking the Ikea joke upthread might contain a grain of truth.

• [ChickieD]

  To me, this looks like great furniture for a kindergarten or first grade classroom, where you might leave a space open for activities and then be able to pull out some, definitely slightly uncomfortable but very functional furniture for an activity that required it, and then put it out the way. 

• [MikeB]

  Its a Google Doodle!

• [Sarah]

  But… but… that’s not the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy. That’s the Pas de Quatre from Swan Lake, aka the Dance of the Little Swans. Right composer, wrong ballet.

  Oh, and the furniture is very clever too.

• [Amelia_G]

  Sweet! _Modular bookshelves_, that store furniture! I like the way the colors (and this music) might help prevent depression in Seattle’s rain-darkened tunnel apartments.
  Can’t tell about a chair without sitting on it, but I actually prefer hard furniture to the overdimensioned upholstered widthxdepth of US armchairs and especially sofas. I feel as if I sink into those and may never escape. Firm furniture = more energy.