Rat Table

Honing in on a rat's fine ability to gnaw, 25-year-old Londoner Jeeves Basu makes use of the efficient carpenters by keeping them hard at work crafting a piece of furniture. “It is an experiment to see if something beautiful can come from destruction,†Basu explains, while declining to reveal how exactly he coerces the rodents into organized eating. After experimenting with smaller models, Basu recently …

Ogata Soft Furniture

Spied recently at the popular Brooklyn Flea Market in New York, veteran Japanese interior designer Kin ichi Ogata impresses audiences around the globe with his handmade "soft" wood furniture. Together with his younger brother Hisashi, they create the pieces from oak and pine, assembling individual pieces into flexible grids. Set atop iron bases, the sturdy design makes for seating that adapts to the individual's body, …

Belly Love

With a shape inspired by coral and covered in glowing tentacles that move, Florence Jaffrain's "Belly Love" looks more like a prop from Burning Man than a piece of furniture. Prioritizing a more sensual experience, the Paris-based designer lined the womb-like structure with a new photo-luminescent textile comprised of thousands of tiny soft bristles with essential oil-diffusing microcapsules. The fabric cover "breathes" as well, cradling …