Fun-iture
Furniture designed for play, movement and sensory interaction
Fun-iture explores what happens when furniture becomes something you can play with, not just sit on. Inspired by fidget toys and sensory objects, the project reimagines everyday furniture as an interactive experience that encourages touching, squeezing, moving, and simply having fun.
Why can’t furniture be a toy?
We constantly interact with the objects around us — tapping, spinning, squeezing, bouncing, or moving without even thinking about it. Fun-iture began with an interest in these small behaviors and the satisfying sensory experiences behind them.
Two ways to fidget
Two unique furniture pieces, each exploring a different type of sensory interaction.
Lava Chair
Watch it. Move it. Get lost in it.
The Lava Chair transforms the mesmerizing movement of a lava lamp into a piece of furniture. A transparent body contains flowing wax and liquid, creating constantly changing forms as the material heats, separates, rises, and falls. The chair can also swivel, adding another simple movement for the user to interact with. The result sits somewhere between
furniture, fidget object, and living sculpture.
How could furniture invite interaction?
How could sitting become a sensory experience
What if a chair could be as satisfying to play with as a fidget toy?
Exploring the senses
The design process began through experimentation. I tested materials and behaviors that were satisfying to touch, watch, squeeze, stretch, shape, and move. Slime, foam, wax, liquids, kinetic materials, and soft surfaces became a way of understanding what makes an interaction feel playful and irresistible. Rather than starting with the form of a chair, I started with the experience I wanted the person to have.
Squish Chair
Sit on it. Squeeze it. Shape it.
Squish Chair takes inspiration from the irresistible feeling of squeezing a stress ball. Its soft body responds to pressure from the person using it, allowing the surface to be pushed, squeezed, molded, and reshaped. Instead of asking the body to adapt to a rigid chair, the chair changes with the body.Sitting becomes an active, tactile experience rather than a passive one.
Making Fun-iture
The final piece is the result of months of sketching, prototyping, material testing, making, failing, adjusting, and trying again. Each experiment helped answer a different question: How should it feel? How should it move? What makes someone want to touch it? And how can that playful interaction become part of a functional piece of furniture?
Additional Projects
