Balloon Bench Seems to Float (But There’s a Trick)
A balloon-floated house may be a flight of fancy (or at least something you don’t see everyday) – by comparison, a buoyant and comfortably-padded hover bench seems downright plausible.
Still, this whimsical design has a secret: those strings you see tying the seat to the red balloons above are actually tension cables tied into the ceiling above and making this otherwise-conceptual piece a concrete (or rather: cushioned aluminum) reality. Still, this suspension solution works with the illusion, rather than separate strands or half-hidden back or bottom supports.
The Japanese design collective H220430 first conceived of the idea as a hard bench with bare minimalist white orbs supporting it, but then embraced its inherently playful nature (taking inspiration from the the French movie The Red Balloon).
From there, for a little more fun, they created a similarly-style balloon lamp that also looks like it is floating along the top of the room, while it is actually tied into a traditional fixture above. Would be a great set for a kids room (though the old-style leather might not be every child’s style).
More from designer Satoshi Itasaka about his philosophy:
“I believe that design is one of useful methods to solve many problems that modern society has; environmental issues, disparity in wealth. Excellent design spreads over the world and has a power to tell messages to wide rage.In some case, it has more influence than text and art and induces viewers to have the significant communication.”
“Of course, this effect is not large dramatically, but in the current situation, there is no way but we can expect small effects of repeating. I believe that we must understand this situation and get over problems of border and language and I would like to work on design as a good spokesman of the society and send messages to the world. I am convinced that there is an effective design approach to the many challenges facing modern society, such as the deterioration of the global environment and the various problems created by the gap between rich and poor.”
“A good design will spontaneously spread all over the world, and at the same time, the message it has will spread widely. They are sometimes more influential than text and art, and induce meaningful communication between those who come into contact with the design.”
