Male Appeal: Furniture for the Young Professional
Author:Lindsey ShookI was at a holiday party last week and in attendance were a large number of 20-something males. More than a few asked me what my plans were for the new year and I must admit I was expecting an eye roll or two when I told them that I’d be blogging for a home and design magazine. Shame on me! Not only did I get a good response and earnest questions of interest, one young professional whipped out his cell phone and showed me an image of a new coffee table that he thought was “the bomb.”
Times must be changing. The 20-something male has a checkered past when it comes to furniture taste (think shapeless black leather couches and recliners with mini-fridge compartments) but the coffee table I was shown was actually pretty cool (see below.) I’ve also found a few other items that I believe might appeal to this age group in particular and probably most people in general.
The Float coffee table designed by RockPaperRobot is connected by thin wires but the table’s illusion of floating is provided by powerful magnets lining the inside of the 64 individual wooden cubes.
Many men agree there is nothing quite like a nice piece of wood furniture, but when it comes to comfort, a wood chair can often fall short. Japanese interior designer Kin Ichi Ogata appears to have answered this problem by creating “soft” wood furniture by assembling individual pieces of oak and pine into flexible grids.
The sofa tends to be command central for many men. It needs to be comfortable and functional. And yet, as the Fossa sofa by Aurelien Barby for COR shows, there is no reason it cannot also be stylish. This sofa is transformed when cushions are added or removed from the slots in place for holding the backrests. One can also combine two of the sofas to create a sectional.
