Ok boys and girls, you may need to squint a little on this one. What you are looking at is a fishbowl design that looks as though MC Escher was hired by Superman to create a mini fortress of solitude for his gold fish Doug. Ha, you didn’t know Superman’s goldfish was named Doug, did you? Other than my early morning fact checking, the real clever aspect here is that this design loops the fish around in an infinite tunnel of water and glass.

Designer: BCXSY Studio

The 1960’s saw some truly amazing design, both graphically and industrial. Along with Roy Lichtenstein, famed Italian artist Guido Crepax is considered one of the fathers of the graphic pop art movement. His most famous character “Valentina” was a massive comic success and it’s title character is a sexual icon and his most famous creation.

Designer: Canevese Giuseppe

Well it’s official, cubes-that-turn-into-things is officially a trend. Maybe designers are inspired by last years Transformers movie, or the Borg on Star Trek, but these squared squares just keep on coming. The latest is by designer Naho Matsuno called “Cube 6.”

Designer: Naho Matsuno

Got a lot of stuff? Can’t remember where you put the power cord for that mobile phone you never use? Well designer Pietro Arosio for EmmeBi has your number. He just might be one of the first designers to think of something so obvious it makes my brain ache. He put numbers on these lovely drawer designs, making finding your stuff that much easier. That’s it! Numbers! Genius.

Designer: Pietro Arosio

What’s this? A giant jewelry box for “power-ups” in Zelda? Nope, it’s a fine example multi-function furniture by designer John Nouanesing. Calling it the “One To Three For Five (Seconds)”, this giant white cube table can easily split up into a pair of low riding chairs and a red table/foot stool/extra life. How long does this transformation take to complete? Well as the name implies, it takes five seconds and a deep desire to interdimensionalize your surroundings.

Designer: John Nouanesing

Are your objects of tactile reality not quite giving you enough depth, dimension and shading? Neither are mine and thankfully Swedish designers Front are exhibiting their “Shade” project at Spazio Rossana Orlandi during this years Milan furniture fair. Using standard silhouettes of common household items and shading them as if on paper, the designer states his intriguing designs are “like materialized illustrations.”

Designer: Front Design Studio

After the “Habitual Bedside Table” presented by Yanko design in March - readers questioned its usefulness in contemporary interiors since not everyone reads bedside. Optionally here’s its sister; a reversible magazine rack in powder coated steel. The side used depends on your reading/living habits. The great thing about this design is how you can get so many different ways to hold a magazine or book using only two simple adjoined shapes.

Designer: Stephane de Sousa

OK, wait a minute. Rims on a table? Well, if you are Beth Fuller, then yes! Fuller has taken objects from the streets of New York Cities’ junkyards, and created beautiful recycled objects. All materials used in the creation of the “Junkture Table” are sustainable. They are found locally, and are either 99%-100% recycled. With the imagination of Beth Fuller, “Beautiful things CAN be made from junk”.

Designer: Beth Fuller

No that isn’t a mispelling, just an intentional act to drop the ‘e’, reinforcing the idea of a chair and table existing together as one because separately they are incomplete. This point of tension is explored by forcing one’s function to work by embracing the other. In this way, this chair can be a table and vice versa.

Designer: Melvin Ong

Update: Back in July 2007 we published a concept furniture called “Loopita” which we knew was going to be an instant hit. We been informed now that it is finally going into production! Congrats to Victor for making it happen.

Designer: Victor Aleman