Laser Furniture

November 1, 2006 9:09 PM

Sketch Furniture, aka Furniture Made With Frickin' Lasers. Swedish designers use motion capture technology to draw chairs and tables with light in mid-air. Their sketches are then built out of plastic by a laser into real pieces of furniture. Honestly, either one of these things would amaze me. I'm starting to like living in the future. (via bb)
posted by Riovanes (23 comments total)

Wow. Thats super awesome. I want any of those. Imagine the conversations over that...

But I mean, come on... a 1 link fpp? Where is the wikipedia entries on lasers, swedish,and a dictionary.com link on furniture?
posted by subaruwrx at 9:24 PM on November 1, 2006

Yeah, you really should have linked each word with a definition, a detailed etymology and a some sort of web 4.0 mapping link for sweden in cosmological relation the closest blogger to you.

This is amazing. I love process.
posted by setanor at 9:26 PM on November 1, 2006

Sorry everyone! I probably also should have found out what model of laser that is and linked to the manufacturer so everyone can order their own laser furniture.

/wrists
posted by Riovanes at 9:35 PM on November 1, 2006

For the last time, single link posts to awesome stuff is totally 100% okay. Great bizarro furniture!
posted by jessamyn at 9:50 PM on November 1, 2006

The instantaneous prototyping (The Frickin' Lasers) technology has been around for years. I remember being amazed when I heard about it in '99 or 2000. Still a great use for it though. And the computational techniques are impressive.
posted by Farengast at 10:01 PM on November 1, 2006

I just want the plastic tank thing. Oh the things I could make if I could feed a 3D model into it.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:05 PM on November 1, 2006

Oh I do want to do this. Glad there weren't alot of distracting links on the history of sketching and so on.
posted by pointilist at 10:05 PM on November 1, 2006

Cool idea, really, but I, personally, find the furniture rather ugly.
posted by Pollomacho at 10:12 PM on November 1, 2006

Birdhouse
posted by hortense at 10:28 PM on November 1, 2006

Awesome. The laser-molded-plastic technology has been around for awhile, actually. I remember seeing a demo of it over ten years ago or so. I guess it's not yet cost-effective. But Swedes have got money to burn, so...
posted by zardoz at 11:09 PM on November 1, 2006

Simon would have loved this thing.
posted by pracowity at 11:37 PM on November 1, 2006

Cool idea, really, but I, personally, find the furniture rather ugly.

I don't think it's ugly, but I don't think I could sit in one of those chairs for more than about ten seconds without getting a sore ass.

Also, I like my tables to have flat tops and legs of equal length.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:20 AM on November 2, 2006

yeah, those swedish girls are hot! more videos please.
posted by wumpus at 12:54 AM on November 2, 2006

Nice project but completely useless imho: we see them drawing but they don't directly see what they are drawing except maybe on a screen which is like drawing in the mirror..

The combination of techniques is nicely found though..
The drawing-with-lights-technique is like PipsLab combined with 3d printing (around for a while but way to expensive to use in production environment)

Using a VR goggle and glove would be more usefull bc you would be able to (forms)tools and use them to pe extrude them in VR.. I know they were working on this at the Tech. Uni. in Delft.. can't find a link to that project though, sorry
posted by borq at 1:47 AM on November 2, 2006

I'm starting to like living in the future. awesome. me too.
posted by localhuman at 2:19 AM on November 2, 2006

ahhh haha - pollomacho and peter mcdermott, you totally got it. first thoughts i had while looking at the site were: cool technology! butt-ugly furniture! ow, that chair looks... seriously uncomfy!
posted by lapolla at 2:43 AM on November 2, 2006

Bah. Been doing this for years without fancy lasers by blasting liqui-foam weather-stripping from a simple ratchet tube gun (me "Oozi"). Doesn't set as fast as I'd like so dressers and lamps sorta end up being throw rugs. And there is the sticking to the shoes problem so I now work in the nude.

Difficult to explain. I'll make a video so you can see me caulk.
posted by hal9k at 4:28 AM on November 2, 2006

we see them drawing but they don't directly see what they are drawing

That's the whole point! They sort of move their hands in a table shape, and then they get a table shaped like that.
posted by mendel at 6:20 AM on November 2, 2006

Fascinating technology - a solution in search of a problem?
posted by speug at 7:12 AM on November 2, 2006

Difficult to explain. I'll make a video so you can see me caulk.

Caulk-tease.
posted by 40 Watt at 7:24 AM on November 2, 2006

Using a VR goggle and glove would be more usefull bc you would be able to (forms)tools and use them to pre extrude them in VR.

Either my sci-fi/reality filter is breaking down, or it should be possible to have hologram projectors replicate the lines being filmed and stored. That way, they could process the movements of the pen, and create visible effects to be manipulated or erased. More lasers, eh?

No, now that I think about it, that's just crazy.
posted by anotherpanacea at 7:50 AM on November 2, 2006

Cool! I had no idea this kind of thing was possible. Living in the future, indeed.
posted by geeky at 7:50 AM on November 2, 2006

I don't think the intent here is to design functional furniture. They're drawing in the air and it becomes tangible art. Short of turning iron into gold, this is an alchemist's dream: wave a magic wand around and voila! Instant worthless trinkets to sell to millions! This is worth diggin' Barnum out of the grave for.
posted by ZachsMind at 10:17 PM on November 2, 2006