Dice furniture changes function depending on how you "throw" it

Swiss studio Kosmos Architects has designed Dice, a multifaceted piece of oak furniture that can be used as a stool, a coffee table, a lamp or a footrest.

The five-pronged furniture piece weighs 10.5 kilograms and has a "warm" oak wood frame characterised by subtle chequerboard patterns.

"Throw the dice, and this project will take a new shape depending on how the user rotates it," said Kosmos Architects, which named Dice after the numbered cube often used in games of chance.

Two of the furniture's legs are wide enough to support it, while two others are slimmer and rounded. The fifth leg features a triangular lamp at its tip made of plastic and protected frosted glass, which can be removed via a small button and charged using a USB socket.

When tipped on its various sides, Dice can function as a stool, a coffee table or a footrest.

The furniture can be attached to a rope or similar hanging material and suspended from the ceiling to provide lighting or simply positioned as a floor lamp.

Kosmos Architects chose this asymmetric design to "unite the qualities of four different basic furniture typologies".

"We made the lamp removable so that there are no electrical cords and to make the object independent," architect Leonid Slonimskiy told Dezeen.

Dice was CNC-milled from a stack of solid oak pieces with a multi-axis milling machine.

"The robotic arm cut away pieces of wood with a rotating drill until the shape got smoother, and then we manually sanded and oiled the piece," he explained.

"Dice combines new technologies and handcraft."

"The furniture has a clear purpose but is supposed to be interpreted by the owner," continued Kosmos Architects.

"It is a sculpture and at the same time a pragmatic piece of furniture."

Kosmos Architects has also created a silver "carry-on bag" for Dice, which mimics the shape of the furniture and helps to make it portable.

Dice was unveiled during last month's Milan design week at Fake/Authentic Gallery. Dezeen has rounded up 10 other projects presented at the festival that explored the future of furniture design.

Previously, Japanese studio Torafu Architects created multifunctional furniture – also called Dice – for both children and adults.

The photography is by Maxim Cherepanov. 

Milan design week took place from 15 to 21 April 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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