The Perfect Thing: Designing in my sleep

There is a perfect solution to every problem, some people say. The beauty of design, interior design, architecture, fashion, any kind of design really, is that there doesn’t have to be just one perfect solution. There can be, and probably are, as many solutions as there are people. And even for the same person, there can be different solutions at different times. We grow, we change, our taste and needs evolve.
And so we continue to read design magazines, blogs, go to exhibitions, to see if something new comes along that strikes us as “just the thing.”


Well, I have been rather sleep-deprived of late. So finally, the other morning I allowed myself to do something I rarely do — I took a nap. There I was, in a suspended state somewhere between sleep and wakefulness, and I thought to myself, This couch in the library is just not comfortable. The library in my house doubles as a guest bedroom, and the couch folds out into a queen-sized bed. Now, as a bed it’s not bad. During the first six months that we lived here, the downstairs where my bedroom is was not yet finished, and I slept on the sofa bed in the library. As a bed it’s fine. But it’s not at all comfortable as a couch, and the result is that I never sit on it. I do, on occasion, take a nap on it and it’s fairly comfortable for napping. But I don’t like sitting there to read (and remember, it’s in the library) or to watch TV, and there is a lovely flat-screen 42-inch TV on the opposite wall. It should be the perfect room. But it’s not.

Occasionally I think about it and ask myself what kind of couch I would like to put in there, bearing in mind that it must double as a bed, and accommodate two people.
Well, during my nap in this strange semi-conscious state, the design for the perfect sofa bed came to me. In my previous life I went to architecture school and discovered a passion for interiors and single-family houses. In particular I am enthralled by the concept of “form follows function.” I derive great satisfaction from an object that looks like what it’s for: it’s like physical onomatopoeia. At the same time, just as I hugely enjoy playing with words, where meaning and form interweave and depths and layers peek out from between the letters, I also enjoy playful forms, that reveal and hide at the same time, that look like their function, or that hide some of their function.
All this to say that I have conceived a design that looks like a day bed taken from a ship’s cabin but in reality hides a very simple mechanism to transform itself into a double bed. Here are some rough sketches.

This first sketch I doodled on a page right after I woke up from the nap. I worked out the basic mechanism and left a few technical details to work themselves out in my subconscious for a while.

The next morning over breakfast I told my mother about my design-somnia and showed her the sketch, and since she’s a genius with these things (I come by it honestly, you see) we worked out some of the technical issues together. The result is this second set of sketches.
I know a very talented wood and metal worker, who is a sublimely gifted craftsman as well as being an artist. I ran into him this evening at the wedding of a couple of mutual friends and proposed he make this piece of furniture for me. If we embark on this project together, you can be sure I’ll keep you posted. Until then, much love to all from me on this day, Valentine’s day, 2009.

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Tagged as: Form follows function, Furniture, Interior design