Though I couldn’t usually get away with two bed posts in one week, someone out there - namely, Jacob Slevin, founder and publisher of this forum - suggested there might be an egg theme in the works (see Egg Chair is Back! and What Came First? Armourcoat or Egg?); to which I reply, if it’s eggs you want, it’s eggs you’ll get!

LOMME, cocoon (egg-shaped) bed. Designed by Günther Thöny.

Personally, I love it when designers take their cues from nature. And whether were talking primal and cellular, like the amoeba-inspired forms of Karim Rashid’s Koochy Sofa or Blobulous; or first-order mammailan, as in Dima Loginoff’s Trunk Suspension Lamp or Bone Lounge, it’s refreshing to see inspiration taken from the fascinating forms outside the window, especially when “modern” or “contemporary” design is often taken to mean simply “straight” or “geometric.” Ah, but nature contains manifold geometricities, as a certain scribe might have reminded us some four centuries past.

So back to the egg, one of just such a peculiar and compelling aspect. The egg is, of course, richly symbolic, connoting birth, warmth, shelter, sustenance, and a twilight state. This last is especially apropos to LOMME (light over mind matter evolution), the egg-shaped bed by Günther Thöny’s Thony Projekt. This ambitious piece aspires to none other than the re-invention of sleep. Starting with the egg-shape and the appealing metaphoric connotations therein, Thony goes several steps further, infusing Lomme with all the ingredients for a rejuvenative sleep. Taking as cue a two year study into the science of sleep, Lomme shapes the senses of sound (a fully integrated stereo system with iPod dock, the protective sound-damping arc of the shell), sight (notice the iridiscent hue of hidden LEDs, which can be user-tuned to simulate sunset and sunrise), and touch (a massage system integrated into the mattress). This collection of impressive innovations impressed the judges such that Lomme was awarded the coveted Red Dot Award for Product Design. But from my perspective, these high-tech features are merely icing on the cake: Lomme’s embracing contours alone are sufficient to create the blissful state of suspended animation we call sleep. This enviable bliss, along with the diurnal delight of rolling out of one’s very own egg each morning, will let you face each day with all the youthful aspect of a newly-hatched chick.