The Radiator Chair: Steam Heat Seat

“Made from 80 year old radiators, this chair is surprisingly comfortable.” That just may be the case, since the Radiator Chair looks unsurprisingly UNcomfortable. It also looks somewhat out of place among the traditionally styled offerings at the Barrymore Furniture Galleries in Toronto… until you glance at the $1,430 written on the price tag. The Radiator Chair comes with an optional companion piece: a $1,200 end table that sports a red valve handle on one front leg. Don’t turn it, whatever you do!

Sit Challenge: The Stick Chair

The Stick Chair comes to us courtesy of Carlo Volf of Danish design firm Volfdesign, though from the looks of it “courtesy” isn’t one of Volf’s better qualities. It’s doubtful he has a soft spot for comfort either, since YOUR soft spot will never forgive you for sitting in this chair. Designed for the 2005 Carpenter’s Autumn Exhibition, “Stick”, as Volf calls it, will definitely stick it to you… where the sun don’t shine.

The Steel Bean Bag Chair

Rick Ivey’s “1825″ steel beanbag chair displays the rough-edged, riveted look of an Industrial Revolution boilerplate steam engine – just the thing you DON’T want to sink into at the end of a hard day’s night. The $4,500 price tag, however, WILL make you weak at the knees.

Cactus Couch: Me So Thorny!

Not just merely uncomfortable, it’s Sofa King uncomfortable! Looking like a gag gift for Wile E. Coyote, the “Ouch Couch” is (thankfully) not real, but a processed graphic image. The diabolic divan starred in a series of ads for Sony’s AXN pay television, cable and satellite television channel in conjunction with the tag line “Relax. If you can”. Just below the ultimate tough-love seat is a hand-molded silicone chair & footstool combo modeled after a prickly pear – and what a prickly pair they are! It was featured at the China Chair Project art exhibit and is the work of artist (and sadist, obviously) Xiang Yun.

The Concrete Chair: Heavyset Seat

Here’s the perfect chair to have when you need a friend to help you move… and you happen to really hate your friend. Stefan Zwicky’s 1980 homage to the classic 1929 Le Corbusier Petite Chair has little to recommend it besides rock-solid durability – and one ton of mass. Comfort zone? More like Twilight Zone. Plunk this concrete chair in the middle of the Sahara Desert at high noon and it’ll STILL be cold & clammy.

The Pencil Chair: Get The Point?

You could say German artist Kerstin Schulz might not be the sharpest pencil in the box, but that’s understandable as she’s worn out every sharpener within reach to create a suite of furniture only a lovesick porcupine could love. Just looking at her graphic graphite Pencil Chair is giving me lead poisoning… and don’t even ask what she did with all the shavings. Schulz was commissioned to craft something special for Faber Castell’s 100th anniversary exhibition in 2005; we can bet she’s looking forward to doing something similar for Bic.

The Skeleton Chair: Bad To The Bone

Commenting on his polished aluminum and steel Skeleton Chair, designer Michael Aram states “The shape of the human body is a great source of inspiration. Stripped of its skin, it becomes an arresting and unexpected natural form.” Sure Mikey, but this arresting and unexpected chair is the last thing most people would look to when they need to take a load off their feet. If “adding drama to your living space” is your thing, however, prepare to bone up $650 for the privilege.

Sit your butt down in a…butt chair

Giant Bean Bag Chairs

The bean bag chair isn't just for little kids anymore when you have one of these massive and luxurious Giant Bean Bag Chairs. These huge 6' wide bean bag chairs are big enough for two adults and are perfect for lounging around in your living room, game room, dorm room or home theater. They're filled with ultra-comfortable and supportive high-quality polyurethane microfoam, wrapped in a protective moisture-proof inner liner and covered in a soft stain-resistant microfiber plush fabric that is easy to remove for washing. The bags are also eco-friendly, because they are made from surplus furniture-grade materials that are otherwise destined for a landfill. These are almost nice enough to replace the couch!

Aircraft Ejection Seat

Now here’s something no office should be without: an emergency eject! The F-4 Ejection Seat is an authentic F-4 bucket seat with the addition of a custom aluminum base with wheels and a choice of upholstery on the seat. Sitting on this all day will definitely make those TPS reports seem more exciting. Even though there’s no escape, you almost feel like you have a plan to bail if needed.

Gravity Balans Chair

Sitting shouldn’t just be something you do while working at your computer; Sitting should be an experience. The special edition leather Gravity Balans chair lets you feel as close to zero gravity as you’re going to get out of orbit. Find a position that works for you… and we can’t help but think there’s gotta be some cool positions you can find to enjoy with another in this chair.

Human lift your chair?

The human hands as a chair foot holding up your chair, cool, by Wolk Design.
“Chair Construction is a one-of-a-kind sculpture that functions doubly as a chair and as art. The human hands holding up the chair are interjecting and assuming the role of support, creating an illusion that tells a narrative of parts that are missing. The red disc is part of the design and included with the chair.”

Seating Office Chair Conforms To Your Spine

At first glance this office chair might appear to be ridiculously over-engineered but rest assured all that hardware on the back of the seat has a real purpose. Each of those 11 sections are actually torsion spring-loaded bearing joints that are capable of taking an exact impression of your spine. To make said impression all you need to do is ‘unlock’ the joints with a specific lever and then lean back into the chair with enough pressure to move the springs. Once you have the back of the chair shaped into your ideal posture simply sit in it and over time ‘muscle memory’ will naturally improve your posture while you surf YouTube and Digg all day.

The Vert? can be ordered from the Anthro Corporation for $1,500 and comes with everything you’d expect from a high-end office chair including a gel-filled leather seat and back, three levers for adjusting the chair’s height and tilt and a padded two-way adjustable head rest.

Chair, ready to move

For a mere $3770, you can own a chair that looks like an airplane beverage cart circa 1970!

I wonder if the chair will let me have the soda can sans ice if I’m very charming when it comes down the aisle to offer me a drink.

Stupid chair! Whaddya mean you’re all out of vegetarian meals?! For $3770, I better damn well get my vegetarian meal.