after. hours.

The After Hours by Roz Hayes and Dani Stoller is a giant sofa that's also a lounge. At first I thought they meant "lounge" as in a big sofa, but then I realized they meant "lounge" as in a room where people hang out and, you know, lounge around.

room. with. a. view.
Well, maybe not "room" per se but certainly room-like. I mean, it's got walls and a ceiling, plus built-in lights, and it even

free. gmail. invites.

Gmail just gave me six more invites that I'm going to pass on to Funfurde readers. If you're interested, reply to this thread with your e-mail address. First come, first serve.

the. tube. lamp.

I love this modern lamp made from retro tubes. How great is it? So great that it has its own Web site. The fact that creator Nik Willmore says it was "nerdily conceived" is just an extra bonus.

showcase.
The lamp is made of 9 so-called "showcase" bulbs controlled by a dimmer. They're called "showcase" because they're used in store displays and picture frame lights. Of course they are. You can

disney. faucet.

I'll be the first to admit I'm not a big Disney fan, but when I came across this Disney bathroom paraphernalia on the Kohler site, it made me smile.

subtle.
What most impressed me about the Disney Collection is that it doesn't scream DISNEY! at me the way a lot of their stuff does. I mean, 4.5 seconds in a Disney store is enough to drive me insane. But I think the Disney faucet, with its

flipper.

I didn't know I wanted an umbrella stand until I found the Flipper. Let me clarify here: I don't need an umbrella stand. I only own one umbrella, and it's a compact model that's only about a foot long, so it wouldn't even fit in an umbrella stand if I had one. I don't have one, because I don't need one. But I still want a Flipper, in the worst way.

end. of. the. rainbow.
The Flipper has me

solitaire. chair.

Alfredo Haberli is a pretty smart guy, and he's also a pretty good designer. He realized that people sitting on a chair might need a table to go with it. Maybe they'd want to just put their drink on the table, but maybe they'd need to write on it too, or put their laptop on it. So rather than design a chair and then designing a table to go with it, he designed the Solitaire, which is both at

travelland. river. table.

Based on the theory that rivers are relaxing, Oliver Beckert thought it'd be nice to put one in your house. But, you know, a river can take up a lot of space, so where to put it? At this point Oliver kicked his feet up on the coffee table to have himself a think and...eureka! If the table has room for feet, he thought, it's got room for a river!

maybe. not.
Okay, maybe that's not what happened

mars. chair.

The Mars Chair has a lot of angles on it, but none of them are right angles. That doesn't mean they're wrong angles, just that the chair has a unique surface geometry.

the. more. you. look.
All that edgy geometry makes the chair look different from different points of view, or so the copywriters say. They also make it comfortable to sit in, since the seat has a hollow for your, um, other

asana. floor. lamp.

In yoga, Asana means posture, or seat. In Italy, Asana means weirdo chair, or weirdo lamp. At least the Asana made by Kundalini does.

extrasensorial. signs.
To clarify, the 6.5' tall Asana is both a chair and a lamp. Either separately, or both at the same time. It stems from the Kundalini philosophy to create things that are not only beautiful but "also and above all extrasensorial signs.

flos. night. owl.

The Flos Night Owl carpet/nightlight might be a brilliant idea or just sort of, um, silly. It's a carpet with a pattern on it -- in that pattern is a circle -- on that circle you put an LED light -- at night that light lights up the carpet -- it also lights up the pattern -- and that prevents you from tripping when you go get a glass of water. So the theory goes.

i. liked. it. better.
I

ventana. lamp.

The Ventana is called a "lamp" but it doesn't particularly look like one, and you don't particularly need to use it like one. I mean, it is a lamp, but it's also a "light curtain" that can swing out and rotate sidewise to act as a room divider, or it can be used as a window treatment. I suppose if you work hard, you could get it to do all three at once.

versatile. ventana.
The "V" in Ventana

sapien. bookcase.

The Sapien Bookcase is a brilliant design that lets you stack books vertically instead of horizontally. Created by Bruno Rainaldi, it's primarily billed as a way to save space. But I think it does more than that. For me anyway, it's a more natural way to store books: in piles.

piles. and. piles.
When I'm not reading books it's pretty easy to keep them in traditional cases. But when I start

vector. tv. unit.

The Vector TV Unit from Axi sounds like a videogame system and looks like a podium, but it's actually something you put your TV on. Once the TV is on top, your DVD, VCR and other entertainment gizmos go in the shelf parts. (I think the bit that looks like a microphone is actually used to prop up a flat panel TV.)

attention.
What I like about the Vector is that while it looks fun and

performance. vip. club. chair.

If you call a product the "Performance VIP Club Chair" my feeling is you better deliver something that lives up to that name. I haven't actually sat in these chairs, so I can't comment 100%. But based on all the other home theater chairs I've seen and sat in -- and I love home theater chairs -- these look about eight times better than most. They're from Irwin Seating.

stylin.
Home theater chair

bond. age. beanbag.

The first thing you notice about the Bond Age Beanbag is the soft black nubuck suede that it's made out of, right? Yeah, me neither.

yes. they. are.
Yes, those are chains attached to the Bond Age, and yes, that is a girl attached to the chains. Deliberately. As manufacturer Jucci puts it, with the Bond Age you can "either just lounge with your loved one or, with the addition of clever little

bulbcaps.

The Bulbcap is (you know it's coming) a bright idea. It's a little rubber sheath you put over an unsightly bare lightbulb to turn it into a slightly more sightly, slightly less bare bulb. It comes in colors, and can safely be used on bulbs up to 40 watts. (I'm studiously avoiding going for the easy joke here...I just want you to know that.)

simple. concept.
The Bulbcap is a simple but elegant

morfeo.

According to the manufacturer, the Morfeo couch owes a nod to Morpheus, the god of sleep and dreams. Dreams I presume because the couch is dreamy looking and you'll hopefully have wonderful dreams when you sleep on it, and sleep because the couch also unfolds into a bed.

aether.
I think they should also throw in a mention about Aether, the god of light, because of the wicked funky flexible

weekend. web. updates.

Some cool Web sites I've added to the links section: Plushpod and Hive are well worth a visit, Steve pointed out that I didn't have a link to Design Within Reach, the name Lightology is fantastic but I wish the online store had a bigger selection, and the name TheMagazine.info is strange, but the store itself is wonderful (I wrote to ask them why they chose that name, but have not heard back yet

mago. serving. trolley.

Sometimes I could use a serving trolley and other times I could use a coffee table, but no times could I use both simultaneously, due to space issues. Since I can't have both, I don't have either, but if I did, I'd also want them to look kind of modern but kind of funky. And while we're at it, I have a weakness for tables with big wheels, so...why not throw those in too?

raul. barbieri.
There's

the. magic. pouff.

Some things you just don't realize you need until you come across them, like The Magic Pouff by Denis Santachiara. The Pouff is both an ottoman and a bed, depending on what you want it to be. Who knew such things existed?

inflatable.
Okay, it's actually an inflatable bed in an ottoman, complete with a compressor to pump the bed part up. And I really don't need one, but it looks so cute I want

lazy. lamp.

The Lazy Lamp from Chris Slutter is a cross between a floor lamp and a wall sconce. That makes it kind of perfect if you want a sconce, but you either a) don't want an on-wall kind with a cord hanging from it or b) don't want to cut into your sheetrock to add the in-wall kind. It's also kind of perfect if you want a floor lamp, but one that looks a bit unusual.

it. leans.
The Lazy is also

bouloum. chaise.

What could be more comfortable for the human body to recline on than a human body in recline? If that made sense to you, then you more or less understand the sentiment behind the Bouloum Chaise. It was designed by Olivier Mourgue in 1968 and named after one of his childhood friends (presumably someone he sat on and, if so, hopefully a comfortable someone).

characterful.
The Hive Web site

tipi.

What do you get for the person who has everything, including a Pony? A Tipi of course. A Tipi is basically the same thing as a Pony, but it's not a Pony. Which is to say, like the Pony it's meant to be a seat, but not necessarily a chair. And like the Pony it's meant to be fun. But it doesn't look like a Pony. It looks like, well, a Tipi.

is. it. better?
Is the Tipi better than the Pony? Only

art.

When you go to the ART Web site you'll see some pretty unusual vacuum cleaner images: there's one in a collector's case, another by an artist's easel, and a third by a couple in bed with a dozen roses. What's going on here?

art. as. art.
What's going on is that Miele has created a designer vacuum cleaner called ART, one that's supposed to look as good as it works. In other words, there's art