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Furniture Health and Wellness

ChairBot tackles back pain by dropping half your seat

The Premise. Most people suffer from back pain at some point in their lives. This can have many causes, but the two leading reasons for back pain are bad posture and immobility. Office workers may find it hard to address either of these problems due to their sedentary jobs.

The Product. ChairBot makes sitting at one’s desk, but staying mobile with good posture, possible. The chair features a moveable seat that splits in two. The seat, either manually or automatically set by a timer, will alternate supporting each leg. What this means, is that the user stands on one leg, while sitting on the other. When the chair switches sides, the person’s weight shifts keeping them in constant motion to avoid injury caused from sitting too much. Good posture is maintained because the person is in a standing position, without actually having to stand.

The Pitch. ChairBot’s campaign video features Simon Hong, its creator, talking about the dangers of sitting too long and why it causes pain. He goes into the scientific reasons for back pain and his explanation is actually interesting and informative. Hong is aiming to raise $100,000 in his 30-day Kickstarter campaign.

The Perks. Backers looking to avoid back pain need to shell out $2,700 for the ChairBot… ouch. The top two reward tiers come with a crystal etched version of the ChairBot for super chair enthusiasts. Hong also offers a footstool specifically designed to go with his chair for $100. Reward tiers that include the product have an estimated delivery date of November 2014.

The Potential. There have been so many products aimed at fixing the various aches and pains of office worker bees. Most back support systems are attachments or accessories for existing chairs, like PostureME. ChairBot, however, really pushes the envelope with its weight switching capabilities. A couple of drawbacks of this product are that the desks of people using this product need to be at a higher position for standing and that a constantly moving chair may make it difficult to focus on actual work. The price is also very high for a powered chair. Other power or motor chairs go for around the same price or even less. Still, ChairBot’s ergonomic possibilities and well-thought out design make it a great tool for serial sitters in pain.

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Furniture Organization

Smart Furniture hides table, chairs as bookcase piping

Smart Furniture  20140326124332-dezeen_As-If-From-Nowhere-by-Orla-Reynolds_5[1]Perhaps every home owner’s main complaint about their home after living in it a few years is not enough space. Of course, that could easily apply to a dorm room, apartment or even a teenager’s bedroom. The very clever Smart Furniture offers a unique solution to creating more space in small environments. The bookcase holds colorful chairs and a table that seamlessly slide in for storage and out when ready to use. Cushions are also available for setting up the storage area as more comfortable benches. The chairs, however, are pretty spartan and probably wouldn’t be comfortable for extended periods. For $55, a backer gets the complete product, but you will have to assemble it yourself. Expected delivery is May 2014.

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Furniture

MOVE combines bed and desk for easy room configuration

MOVE  20140306071445-Serie_Schreibtisch[1]Perhaps one of the biggest challenges of college dorm life is the limited space. Once you put a bed and desk in there, there doesn’t seem to be much room left. MOVE offers a way to combine a bed and desk into one unit. With the bed on one side, and desk on the other, each piece can be folded up into the unit when not in use. It’s made of wood and multiple units can be hooked together to increase desk space or create a double bed. It does appear, though, that one side needs to be folded into the unit in order to make use of the other side. For €1000, a backer gets a complete unit minus a port for a multimedia and power connection, which can be added for another €100.

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Cycling Furniture Organization

Shelfie turns your bike into a wallflower

Shelfie   0eda655a115ebcaba9e2dc03329897e2_large[1]Perhaps one of the best forms of exercise is riding a bike. For enthusiasts who shun the basement or garage as places to store their bikes, or space is simply limited, Shelfie offers a unit that lets your two-wheeled companion just conveniently hang around. Designed by a professional biker, the bike rack unit lets you hang your bike by the seat, which significantly reduces paint scratches and kinked wires. The units will be injection molded out of a high quality plastic in the US. For $125 a backer gets a complete product with an expected delivery of October 2014.

Categories
Furniture Kids/Babies

OLLA lets kids build their bedroom furniture

OLLA  20140305091927-bed3[1]So if mom and dad have gotten weary of stuff that gets aimed at kids but that parents have to put together, OLLA just might make you smile. The modular system of hole bars and connectors lets kids build items such as a chair, desk, bench, even a bed. The light weight pieces are noted as being appropriate for kids between the ages of 4-14. For $228, a backer gets enough pieces to build a chair, and the building guide. Expected delivery is September 2014.

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Furniture

SlatePro desk designed to accommodate modern tech products

Picture 3Desks these days get cluttered with all of the devices we carry around. SlatePro offers a desk geared towards people who own a laptop, smart phone, tablet and any other new-fangled gadget. The sophisticated workspace has air vents to cool down your laptop, docks for phones and tablets, a built-in mousepad, holes for wires, a place for pens and files and even a cup holder. One SlatePro costs backers $368 and is slated to be delivered by May 2014. SlatePro hopes to raise $12,000 in its 20-day Kickstarter campaign.

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Furniture Organization

Stax uses X-Space makes the diagonal shelves of your criss-crossing dreams

xspaceX-Space, a library built and designed by its students features Stax, a building unit used to create the library. The X-shaped unit made out of wood that can be connected to create a large bookcase or even used as a structural unit to make chairs or benches. The campaign is really raising money to build their library X-Space, but backers are able to buy Stax units for themselves. Early backers can receive one Stax unit for $149 or at the regular price of $199. X-Space is hoping to raise $75,000 in its 30-day campaign on Kickstarter.

Categories
Furniture

For cardboard furniture, Flatgoods entices the fold and the beautiful

The Premise. The Eco Movement is all about living life in a sustainable way, including recycling anything and everything possible. it’s one thing to upcycle a water bottle, but one’s furniture poses a bit more of a challenge.

The Product. Flatgoods offers an array of furniture made out of durable cardboard. The company ships it flat and it is up to the buyer to assemble. One-upping Ikea, Flatgoods offers anything from side tables to sofas with the option to print custom designs on any piece. All Flatgoods furniture is 100% recyclable.

The Pitch. Flatgoods’ Kickstarter campaign gives a detailed list of all pieces available to purchase. The video gives a little back story on the creator, James Mikrut, as well as shows people standing and even bouncing on different Flatgoods products to demonstrate how stable they are. Mikrut hopes to raise $20,000 in his 31 day campaign. For more information, visit the Flatgoods Web site.

The Perks. Each Flatgoods reward tier offers backers a ton of options to choose from.  For $30, backers can pick one piece from an array of end tables, kids chairs and stools all shown in photographs at the bottom of the campaign. Tiers go all the way up to $150, which earns backers the choice between sofas, different sets of kids’ furniture or even a conference table with the custom design option. Current estimated delivery is set at May 2014.

The Potential. Flatgoods’ biggest claim to fame is that its products are 100% recyclable. That said, Flatgoods furniture would be difficult to reuse as furniture because it certainly isn’t as durable as wood and one spilled coffee would be deadly. Another problem is that Flatgoods furniture looks like it’s made out of cardboard. There are many other cardboard furniture companies, such as Chairigami, that uses more innovative design techniques so that their products look like actual furniture. Some of these companies got their funding from Kickstarter, like SITGREEN and Re-Ply. These two in particular focus on taking the moving box look out of their products. All in all, Flatgoods is on the right track and their products are great for kids, but wouldn’t necessarily blend into adult dining rooms or offices as the Kickstarter campaign suggests.

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Furniture

DryAway hides away as a tall laundry drying wall insert

The Premise.  Everyone has to do laundry, but the process of washing and drying clothes is incredibly expensive and can be damaging to items of clothes. To preserve their items, many families are turning to air drying – it’s more economical and doesn’t cause shrinkage. But there isn’t really a sturdy, compact device that provides adequate clothes-drying space.

The Product. DryAway seeks to replace “traditional” laundry hanging racks with something more slender. The company has developed a permanent fixtures that can be tucked away into the space next to the machines or in a closet. Essentially, DryAway consists of tall, bamboo frames with adjustable hanging rods. The frames are mounted onto tracks, which then can be pushed backwards. No unsightly mess and the clothes go out of the way while drying. It’s a similar design to those ultra-thin “pantries” that can be built in next to the refrigerator.

The Pitch. The premise-heavy video spends a lot of time talking about all of the other options that are available and not painting them in a great light, obviously. The campaign page shows DryAway in all of its multiple configuration glory embedded into a wall or available in a standalone closet scenario. Inventor Jim Lutz reads that the product, which now has its own Web site, took four years to develop.

The Perks. To get a DrayAway of one’s own, prepare to slide over $445 for the system. Obviously a set like this is going to cost, but that seems a little excessive, especially when it seems someone with basic handyman skills could replicate the system for less than that. As might be expected of a custom-installed product, the proposition isn’t about a box showing up at your doorstep. If you live within 100 miles of Milwaukee (and why wouldn’t you?),  the project team will install DryAway at your home if you send them the measurements of the space that it will fill. Otherwise, they recommend use of a contractor.

The Potential. DryAway offers discreet high capacity although most consumers probably don’t hang dry all of their clothes and wouldn’t need something this extensive. It does make good use of dead space in laundry rooms and seems to be an environmentally superior option. But it seems anyone who might be able to invest in this probably isn’t worried about the cost of drying their clothes. There seems to be a big middle ground between the flimsy drying stands mocked in the DryAway video and hundreds of dollars for something that’s a custom installation.

Categories
Furniture

Attiture puts balcony-friendly furniture design on the table

The Premise. Living in a small space can make arranging furniture difficult, and having a small balcony only adds to the challenge. Many outdoor tables have larger dimensions that are designed for those with more copious decks.

The Product. The Mercury Table is specifically created with tiny balconies in mind. From the tabletop to the legs, this little table will help you make the most of a small space. The tabletop isn’t symmetrical, but rather offers a rounded edge that slopes at an angle. In addition, the top is outfitted with holes that will keep the table from flipping in high winds. The legs are slender and curve inwards, which allows for chairs and their occupants to fit comfortably.

The Pitch. The video on Kickstarter is a little odd. The video content is viewed exclusively on a simulated old-school television frame. This leaves a lot of blank space on the sides, which is strange but not terrible. The film is narrated by the developers and relies mostly on drawings and one mock-up of the product. They are raising money to start production at local companies in Minnesota. They also included lots of diagrams about the product, both in the video and in the text description. The campaign is striving to raise $48,000.

The Perks. One challenge for the campaign of this pleasant enough little table is the reward tiers. Backers don’t receive a product until $359 for an aluminum version due in March 2014; that represents a supposed $60 discount versus retail. This seems to be a ridiculous price for a small, collapsible table until one sees that the stainless steel versions cost nearly $540 and up.

The Potential. The Mercury Table addresses a legitimate issue and does it in thoughtful style, but there’s nothing proprietary about making a small table, and for significantly less. It’s somewhat surprising that Attiture didn’t at least consider offering matching chairs. Perhaps the campaign will inspire makers of outdoor furniture will become more creative in their smaller table designs.