Brussels -- Compressed foam furniture that can be reduced to just 5% of its 'assembled' size has been developed by Belgian designer Carl de Smet of the Noumenon design agency.
His chairs are made from shape-memory polyurethane that can be compressed for transit and storage. Controlled warming returns the items to their original size.
"The challenge here is to design the business model as much as to design the furniture that is traded in it," the agency said in a statement.
"A well-designed mechanism changes the ways products are organised, distributed and used. It embraces the overall process of a product and shapes the mind into new ideas."
The structural foam can be milled or injection moulded.
