The future of home furnishing

One’s home may be their castle but that doesn’t mean the home furnishings  have to look medieval. These 15 futuristic furniture concept designs prove there’s a lot of future in furniture… not to mention the letters R, N and I. Warning: the designs are awesome but their practicality may vary – do not try these at home, kids. Imagine living in a crowded shelter with your family for months, and the excitement of leaving that shelter to move into a place of your own. Now imagine coming home to emptiness – no chairs, no bed, no place to store the few belongings you have. You can’t just go buy new furniture since you used up most of your savings on a security deposit. And even if you could afford new furniture, how would you get it to your apartment?

The International Contemporary creative furniture Fair, which took place last week in New York, is a showcase for modern design. More than 600 exhibitors displayed contemporary furniture, flooring, lighting, wall coverings, and accessories. The displays included a fair share of tech-oriented, futuristic, and energy-saving devices. These days homes often house offices and offices are looking more like homes. Some things never change, though, such as a desk at which to do one’s work. The classic roll-top desk has evolved into what Polish design firm Mebelux calls Angular – a misnomer because it’s anything but!

Today we have four generations working together in the workplace for the first time in history. We have people migrating all over the world and especially to cities looking for jobs and hoping for a better life. This is a huge demographic shift that has already impacted organizations and will continue to do so as our world becomes more fluid and yet more saturated with workers, all of varying ages and cultural backgrounds. We have more tremendous technology capabilities than ever before, which has now allowed for workers to become untethered from their desks. We have changes in how companies perceive space; no longer a luxury, space has lost some of its traditional meaning when faced with rising costs of real estate and management of facilities. And of course we have sustainability, which is forcing everyone to reevaluate how they do business as well as how to design and model their business. LED lights are making their way into home and office furniture. These desk lamps from San Francisco-based Pablo boast one-tenth the energy consumption of a desk lamp with a traditional bulb.