Multifunction

February 5, 2016September 21, 2016

Furniture for the Ultralight Set

A great deal of micro housing is filled with furniture from the Afterthought School of Design. Micro housing is great for folks whose existences are highly mobile and/or those who are committed to keeping their financial overhead low; as such, investing in high design, high cost and high mass furniture often takes a backseat to low cost, lightweight or easily moved/disposed furniture. Dutch designer Joey Dogge has created a minimalist furniture system that challenges this trend. Dogge’s Yatno line is compact, lightweight, multifunctional, easy-to-move, affordable and beautiful, creating a vision of what small space furniture can look like.

The Yatno collection centers around two main structures: the Yatno Satu and the Yatno Dua. The Satu has open shelving and can be configured to have a desk, a lounge chair or cot. The Dua has a clever stepped drawer system (called the “Laci” and can be ordered a la carte like all the pieces), which acts as stairs used to access upper storage. There is also a sliding cabinet on the Dua that shares a rail that acts as a hanging clothes rack. All of the furniture is freestanding and can be assembled by hand, relying only on wing nuts for fasteners.

The whole system is pretty gorgeous and was designed to fit in a space as small as 50 sq ft. While to overall design seems pretty well sorted out, our big question mark is the cot, which does not look particularly comfortable. Dogge, as model, gets the Oscar for man relaxing reading a book in his promo video. We imaging with a little beefier frame, larger mattress and small headboard, this could be easily improved. Dogge has a full catalog available online showing various customizations for the systems. A recent blast by the company says they are entering their final phase of product development. Visit the Yatno site for more info.

March 6, 2015July 16, 2015

One Shirt, 24 Different Looks

Forgive our recent obsession with clothes, but the topic seems to keep coming up. Whether it’s adding new clothes that do more or getting rid of existing clothes that don’t pay the proverbial rent for their closet space, there’s no shortage of ways in which we can refine and edit this space-hogging category of stuff. A new project/company called MORF is taking on the former category, making one shirt that can be worn 24 different ways. The shirt seems perfect for those looking to both maintain a minimal wardrobe while having a semblance of variation in their look (not that there’s anything wrong with uniformity).

The MORF shirt uses a patent-pending, double-fabric construction that allows it to take on many different forms…well, 24, to be exact. The shirt is mostly cotton and will be available in three different colors (get all three and have 72 shirts!). There are plans to make a dress and a men’s MORF shirt, both expected to be available in October.

Like pretty much every product we write about on this site, MORF is launching on Kickstarter to raise money to ramp up production (with $10K of $25K goal raised and 54 days left, MORF is looking like a slam dunk). A $49 pledge will get you a Blue MORF and will ship in May.

February 20, 2015September 26, 2016

Do-It-All, Technical Clothing, Now for Women!

It’s not a big secret that women buy and spend more on clothing than men–$708 versus $420 annually according to Bureau of Economic Analysis (and I’ll bet those numbers are conservative). But in the realm of technical, fashion-forward, do-it-all clothing, it’s mostly a man’s world. Even though awesome clothing manufacturers like Outlier Tailored Performance do have several women’s garments, their focus seems mostly on the male market. This niche clothing market seems to be treated like “gear” as much as it is “fashion.” A new venture called Pivotte Studio is trying to change all of this, making simply-designed, technical, multi-function clothing specifically for women.

Of their line’s motivation, Pivotte’s website says, “Stylish clothing can’t handle life on-the-go. Fashionable women’s clothing is too delicate, restrictive, and high-maintenance. On the other hand, activewear is not work-appropriate.” Accordingly, they are making stylish, durable, low-maintenance pants, tanks, jackets, dresses and a cardigan. The designs are classic, well-tailored and come in neutral colors, making them appropriate for a wide variety of casual and formal occasions. All garments are made in NYC and constructed of high quality materials like merino wool and the stain-and-water-resistant, non-wrinkling, four-way-stretch Schoeller Prestige Fabric–making them both durable and low-maintenance. These are garments worthy of a uniform.

Right now Pivotte is raising money on Kickstarter. With 18 days left, they have raised over $21K of their $30K goal. Various levels of contributions will get you different garments: $65 for a tank, $190 for pants and so forth. Like Outlier, these prices are not cheap, but considering their quality and versatility, and their ability to replace several less versatile/stylish items, the math might not be as bad as is seems.

October 22, 2014October 22, 2014

4 Pieces of Furniture that Mix Business with Leisure

For today’s work-at-home professional there’s often a fuzzy division between home and work life. Particularly in small spaces without dedicated offices, there’s an imperative to create some division lest we sleep through our workday or work through our sleep day. Multifunctional furniture can do this, creating distinct functions for different duties. Here are a few pieces that shift a room’s focus from work to leisure or vice versa.

BLESS

Berlin-based BLESS design studio made this table whose top flips over to convert into a single bed. The table/bed, which features a bunch of storage, would be great for artists who need large work surfaces or for people who have teams. It would also make a good dining table. (It might not be good for people with partners). Gizmodo reports that the unit is available through BLESS’s seldom-updated, confounding website. We’ll take their word for it.

Vitra

Venerated Swiss furniture maker Vitra will be showing off this cool cubicle concept at this week’s Orgatec tradeshow in Cologne, Germany. Inside the cube is a surface that can raised and lowered to be used as sofa, conventional desk or standing desk. While the piece does have a somewhat office-y vibe, we could imagine having one of these in the house as a dedicated office space. We could also see lengthening it to make a bed.

Resource Furniture Ulisse

Resource furniture makes a number of wall-bed/desk or tables. It houses a queen size bed and has a desk on the front. Prices start at $4,150.

Studio NL

The George Constanza, ahem, 1,6 S.M. of Life line by Studio NL features a single bed underneath a desk top. They’ve included a place for a computer monitor/tv and the head of the desk/bed opens to provide ventilation or something. This design seems best suited for the office worker with a horrible home life.

September 26, 2014September 21, 2016

Multifunctional Sofa Will Blow Your Mind

For some, hosting the ability to host dinner parties is a fairly important criteria to meet for their home. But if you’re living in 500 sq ft or less, it can be pretty tough to justify the space to house a proper dinner table, much less the chairs to surround it. Spanish designer Humberto Navarro, founder of UNAMO design studio, has a pretty slick solution for this most vexing problem. It’s called 3MOODS and it’s a sofa that hides a table and bench big enough for an eight person sit-down meal. The sofa is even big enough to sleep a compact person…somnolence being the third mood presumably.

The 3MOODS frame is made of sturdy bamboo ply and all the hardware is stainless steel. We think it looks relatively nice, though does bear a striking resemblance to your run-of-the-mill futon sofa.

UNAMO is offering the 3MOODs for €2400 ($3050) without tax and shipping (to non-Euros, they said they’ll ship anywhere). Not cheap, but for certain people, this could be a life-altering piece of furniture.

UNAMO is also running an Indiegogo campaign, whose motivation is explained in Google-translator-ese: “We need that 3MOODS is known worldwide, so we must be present in international exhibitions and fairs such as Milan and Paris; promote our product in shops, through advertising…” Basically, they’re trying to get their business together and make prototypes. Given that they’ve raised 75% of their $13K goal with 25 days left, I’d say their chances look good. We look forward to seeing more.

Via Tiny House Talk

February 4, 2014February 5, 2014

A Slanket for the Active Set

We’ve long been looking for an excuse to do a post on the Snuggie or Slanket. If you’re not familiar with these As-Seen-on-TV specials, they combine all of the comfort and warmth of a blanket, but with sleeves and a hood, they wear like an oversized poncho. Like we wrote about recently, the easiest way to warm your house is to warm your body, and if you’re lounging around, few things beat the Snuggie or Slanket for staying toasty.

Color us snobs, but something about the Snuggie and Slanket connotes hours spent sitting motionless in front of the TV–not exactly the type of living we try to promote (though not exactly incongruent with how we behave sometimes either). So our egos have prevented us from doing a post on these amazing, multifunctional, energy-saving, wonder-garments.

Enter the Napsack by Poler. It’s like a Snuggie or Slanket that aligns with our specious notion that we are consummate adventurers (it’s also a really cool product). Rather than being a big poncho-like thing, only suitable for lounging, the Napsack has the shape and functionality of a sleeping bag. But with a hood, zipper up its front, arm openings that zip up, and a cinchable opening at the bottom for your legs to go through, it’s adaptable for lounging–whether by the campfire or TV–and even walking around. Put a belt on it and you’ll be a fashion sensation on Bedford Avenue.

The Napsack will keep you warm down to 50 degrees, making it a nice summer weight sleeping bag. If you’re an outdoor enthusiast, you know what a pain it is to store several weights of sleeping bags. The Napsack’s ability to do double duty whilst not in the wilderness is a great asset.

The Napsack is available in four different colors, two lengths and retails for $130.

February 21, 2013January 8, 2014

Why You Should Give a Washit

In an effort to reclaim some of the billions–probably trillions–of gallons of perfectly good water sent down the drain, a few Turkish designers created the unfortunately-named, brilliantly-conceived combination shower/washing machine/dryer Washit, which uses your filtered shower water to wash your clothes. It actually goes one step beyond most grey water systems, which will often have one-stage water recycling–e.g. using sink water to flush a toilet then onto the sewer. Washit continuously filters and reuses the same water, only replenishing when there is water loss.

One of the more interesting ideas is the public version of the Washit, which allows people to step inside the unit, strip and load their clothes from the inside, then take a shower whilst their clothes are cleaned and dried. This would be great for airports, gyms and late-night partiers.

There is no indication of how long a Washit cycle is. In fact there is no indication that the Washit is ever going to make it to market, though we hope it does. Most modern plumbing systems waste both water and space. By creatively combining water-consuming apparatuses as Washit does, we can cut down on space and water waste. Now about the name….

October 2, 2012June 10, 2013

Transforming Tables Handle Coffee and Dinner with Ease

If you live in a small space–or just don’t want to clutter up your big one–you might find yourself choosing between a coffee or dining table. Having both just takes up too much room. In an effort to sidestep this either/or situation, Resource Furniture and Duffy London offer tables that are as competent at hosting dinner parties as they are having afternoon tea service–or, the US equivalent, eating in front of the TV.

Duffy London’s Transforming Coffee Table MK1 (pictured below) has legs that fold underneath its base for a very simple conversion. When the legs are in the elevated position, built-in leafs, which double as legs when in coffee table mode, add additional length to the dining room table surface.

The table is offered in a variety of finishes and three sizes–Mini, Large and X-Large. All three are 13″ high in coffee table mode and 30″ in dining. The two smaller versions are 29″ wide in coffee mode and 50″ and 57″ when extended; the X-large goes from 39″ to 67″ wide. Duffy’s website lists the prices at £395/$638, £445/$718 and £595/$961 respectively. Unlike a lot of cool Euro furniture we’ve found, they offer US shipping at £175/$282.

Resource Furniture has a full line of tables that have both coffee and dining table functionality. Here are a couple.

The Passo goes from a 10.5″ high coffee table to 30.75″ dining table. It’s 30″ deep and width goes from 48″ closed to 78″ when its built-in leafs are folded out from under the tabletop.

Resource-furniture-passo — Resource Furniture Passo Table

The Box table (pictured at top of post) is similar to the Passo, though the leafs project from the ends of the table versus folding out from underneath. Fully extended, the Box is 87″ wide–sufficiently large for dinner parties for 8-10 people. Like the Passo, you can extend one, both or neither leaf, giving a ton of flexibility for its usage. For example, you could have a long coffee table or short dining table.

We’ve had a chance to use both of Resource’s tables and they work great. They are high quality, easy to raise, transform and moving around the house. Both are available in a variety of finishes and start around $3500.

These tables are great investments for many, combing great design, materials and saving space functionality. That said, we understand they are out of many people’s price brackets. If you know of high quality, lower price alternatives, let us know.

Via Dwell and Mimi

September 10, 2012May 23, 2014

Turn Your Power-Drill Into Multi-Purpose Kitchen Tool

This video from LifeHacker shows what one power-drill and a bit of imagination can do, turning your drill into a blender, beater, scrubber, pepper grinder and Parmesan shredder–all with very minimal modifications. We imagine there are other culinary uses for a power-drill like a handheld blender, food processor or frother.

What this exercise shows is that items we thought were only good for a few purposes–e.g. boring holes, tightening/loosening bolts–can do many.

Granted, using a power-drill this way necessitates keeping it a bit cleaner than you might otherwise (a plastic bag over the drill would probably suffice), but keeping your tools clean is not a bad idea anyway, and getting rid of several single-purpose kitchen tools saves space and money.

Do you have any similar hacks–or MacGyver tips as LifeHacker refers to them? Let us know what they are via email (howdy at lifeedited dot com) or in our comment section.

April 23, 2012May 7, 2013

Stack It, Nest It, Put it Away: Finding the Best Products for the Edited Home

As we approach the completion of the first LifeEdited apartment, we are faced with the question of what products do we put in it? Already claiming a good portion of the apartment’s 420 sq ft are 2 bikes, 2 kite-boards (and a bunch of kite-board gear), 10 stacking chairs, a 30″ computer monitor and several other large items.

Every product added should have maximum utility, minimal footprint and great quality. Products that are multifunctional, stack, nest and fold help achieve those ends.

Joseph Joseph is British company that makes myriad cooking products that fulfill our objectives. Take for example their Nest™ 9 Plus, which nests bowls, a colander and measuring cups and spoons in one unit. Whereas most of us end up with mixing bowl set from one place, a colander from another, and measuring cups and spoons from yet other place, this unit designs these related things to work together, enabling significant reduction in clutter and space.

Other products include a fold-flat grater, a folding colander, nesting kitchen utensils and more.

As an added bonus, Joseph Joseph brings some needed color to our the apartment’s otherwise pale interior!

Home storage is often lost in figurative (and literal) teaspoons–gaps of space here, stuff splayed out in drawers there. Products like Joseph Joseph mind the gaps, mating like products in logical ways, making for a simpler, more compact home.

What other products would you put in the LifeEdited apartment? What multi-functional, stacking, nesting, folding or simply high quality product can you not live without? Let us know.

images via Joseph Joseph