Even if you've never taken a holiday abroad, chances are you will have
- at some point in your life - used a suitcase; the problem is, they're
heavy and energy-sapping en-route to your destination and unruly and
indiscreet at home when you aren't travelling. Thankfully, some
innovators of this world have attempted to adapt this trusty piece of
luggage to form a piece of furniture of which there are never enough:
the chair.
One.
If there's one thing I hate during the run-up to a holiday it's the
leg-achingly-endless queueing, particularly at airports. Enter the
transforming suitcase-cum-seat
seen above; on the surface a seemingly ingenious invention that allows
you to pop open your luggage at any time - train station, airport, bus
stop... - and rest those weary legs. The only thing stopping me from
running out to buy one is the thought of my dirty clothing spilling
onto the floor every time I need to sit.
Two.
South African design graduate Katie Thompson began her 'Recreate'
interior design range - containing items made from beautifully
recycled, re-purposed materials - in 2009. One of my favourite items
can be seen above: old suitcases, attached to reinforced steel frames
to form what look at least to be semi-comfortable seats, upholstered
with local fabrics. It's a quirky, incredibly unique and surprisingly
stylish way to deal with your old luggage.
Three.
Designers Igor Gurovich, Anna Naumova & Eric Belooussov, all of creative design lab Ostengruppe,
came up with this glaringly obvious answer to Traveller's Cramp back in
2006. The photos speak for themselves really: it's a suitcase shaped in
such a way as to constantly offer a chair to its owner, without needing
to manually manipulate the thing in the first place (see example No.1).
Four.
As with Katie Thompson's aforementioned 'Recreate' range, the SitBag
line of furniture cleverly makes use of old suitcases in its quest for
unique seating, and it definitely works. Created by Turkish design
collective MayBeDesign, these chairs have a more retro feel than their
South African counterparts, due in part to the choice of suitcases and
their fantastic upholstering. More so than any of the other examples, I
could actually imagine a couple of these and an ottoman scattered
around the room.
Five.
It's a well-known fact that pets have an infuriating habit of sitting
in their owner's seats, particularly when their trusty human feels the
need to rest their legs; which is why this suitcase pet bed
could be just the ticket should you choose to purchase a suitcase chair
for yourself. Made by Etsy creatives Brad and Ashley Reynolds, the beds
simply consist of one half of an unused suitcase, four legs and some
bedding. In fact, it's such a simple idea you could probably fashion
one yourself with minimal effort, in turn making use of that suitcase
that's been taking up valuable space in the bedroom.
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