Unusual Furniture Designs To Make Your Guests Say “Wow”

Interior decorating should be fun and one of the things that makes it so is adding unusual furniture pieces to your living space. Statement furniture is a great way to freshen up and add some personality to a room. Even smaller pieces can be a statement when they are unusual in terms of design, material silhouette.

Unusual Furniture Designs

Maybe you’re not entirely sure what we mean by unusual furniture, so we’ve rounded up some really interesting pieces that fit the bill. One of our picks might spark some creative ideas for your own home.

Unusual Furniture That Goes From Edgy to the Edge of Weirdness

When it Looks Like Something Else

When it Looks Like Something Else

Reminiscent of the balloon animals made by birthday-party clowns, these Blowing Armchairs by Korea’s Seungjin Yang aren’t what they seem at first glance. Visually, you’re expecting the light, ethereal piece this would be if it actually were just made from balloons; in reality, the chair is solid and has mass.

Through a trial and error process, Yang developed a method that uses eight layers of epoxy over the balloons to give them structure and a marvelously glossy surface.

Organic Forms

Organic Forms

When you think of a bookshelf, most would imagine a structure that is smooth and has shelves that are signed and symmetrically stacked. William Coggin’s coral ceramic bookshelves are nothing of the sort. The side pieces are craggy representations of ocean coral while the shelves are placed at an angle, early perpendicular to one another.

Avant-Garde Shapes

Avant-Garde Shapes

This NULL Collection glass bookshelf at Gallery ALL has all the usual straight angles but the form and the color are very unexpected. Blue panes of glass are arranged in a way that makes the color lighter as you move up the column. 

Created by Zeng Peng founder of Studio Buzao and former head designer for Chinese lifestyle brand Bentu Design, the shelf also has an unconventional composition.

Transformed by New Technologies

Transformed by New Technologies

Calling themselves “Designers of the Unusual, Dutch duo Studio Klarenbeek and Dros created this multilayered crystal design. Composed of 3D printed crystals with Swarovski, it focuses on sustainable crystal technologies. The vessel is attractive for reasons of design and ground-breaking for its merging of traditional material with new technology. 

Bright and Bold

Bright and Bold

Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades is the luxury brand’s travel-inspired furniture collection, which includes this Bulbo Chair by Brazil’s famous Campagna Brothers. Designed to be a giant tropical flower, the layers of petals that form an enveloping cocoon are definitely an unexpected design, which is definitely amplified by the bold yellow hue of the leather upholstery.  

Glass Italia Folio Desk

A credenza is no longer just a credenza when it has an unorthodox shape and some very unexpected embellishments. Designed by Dokter and Misses for the Southern Guild of South Africa, the Cnr Of is crafted from hand-painted steel, a top made from Panga Panga wood and shelves made from Kiaat. It’s a wild design and a great example of how anything goes when it comes to unusual furniture.

Forms From an Alternate Universe

Forms From an Alternate Universe

These pieces by a young ceramic artist called the medium’s new wunderkind, Nick Weddell, look like they make have come from an alternate universe and indeed they did.

Weddell has always designed pieces from an imaginary realm, which explains his love for bizarre textures and creates with lots of eyeballs and sharp teeth. These pieces — the Lenniahdonicon, Chest Able and Cactus Chair are among the tamer pieces and easy additions of whimsy to a space

Cutting Edge Look and Style

Cutting Edge Look and Style

This desk may have traditional lines but the materials don’t necessarily fall into the “usual” category, especially given that it was designed around 1960.

“Desk C” was created by Antoine Philippon and Jacqueline LeCoq with a look that was ahead of its time. This unusual desk is perfect for someone who wants a piece that’s out of the ordinary but isn’t too unexpected.

A Blinged-Out Bike Bar Cart

A Blinged-Out Bike Bar Cart

Best known for his jewelry, London’s Stephen Webster has made his name on cutting-edge design, which he has also applied to the category of homeware. While he has produced a range of great drinking glasses, bar accessories and one-of-a-kind knives, there’s also this amazing bar cart with a fancy bike wheel at the front. This gleaming piece will always be a star attraction.

A Glossy First Impression

A Glossy First Impression

Since a console is commonly used in the entryway, why not make it one that really makes an indelible first impression?  This one by designer Brecht Wright Gander is completely functional and from a design standpoint, quite unusual. First, it’s a bold, glossy green color and second, it boasts an entirely organic shape that has no straight lines or typical structure. 

Simple Beauty in a Complex Form

Simple Beauty in a Complex Form

A single form made from many lines — 45 meters worth in fact. That’s how much steel wire goes into forming the Sign Filo chair from MDF Italia. The metalwork is reminiscent of what a jeweler does, weaving and fusing the various pieces into one unified form. Available in gold and black chrome, the silhouette is assembled by hand into a gleaming chair that will immediately relevant the space. 

Nothing But Glass

Nothing But Glass

When someone mentions a glass desk, we typically think of one with a glass top and some sort of base. In this case, the Folio desk from GlasItalia is made entirely of glass, actually crafted from just a single sheet. At 15mm thick, it is quite sturdy and the elegant curves that form the legs, the surface and the back give it a very soft visual feel.

These pieces of unusual furniture run the gamut from being quite different to new twists on traditional pieces that make them just a bit different. You can find unusual furniture that is way out of the norm but you can also find some that are just different enough to draw attention — something for every comfort level.