If you have an apartment, you likely also have the problem of being low on space, yet needing furniture that will fit into your house.
Enter multipurpose furniture, like the Sensei. It’s a coffee table that with some tugging becomes two chairs for guests.
Cladio Sabille
The Sensei is basically a riff on the ying/yang symbol right now. In its separate form, it’s two fairly standard chairs. No arm rests, nothing fancy, but good for parties and unexpected guests. But if it’s just you and a friend on the couch, you lay them down, interlock the backs, and you’ve got a coffee table, like so:
If that seems like a smart concept, there’s a reason. It was specifically built by industrial designer Claudio Sibille for urban living spaces that are, well, pretty crammed. This way, people don’t have to choose between types of furniture, and nerds have a Transformer in their house in their lifetimes.
It’s not currently for sale, but expect that to change the minute Ikea sees this.
Sensei [Claudio Sibille Official Site]