A good magician makes things happen without our ever seeing it. In part, it is a game of distraction. They draw attention to one hand while they are concealing something in the other. It is a lovely game we like to take part in, because we all want illusion—something that has largely disappeared by the time we reach adulthood.

Balloon Bench. Designed by h220430.

Enchanting Suspension Bench

Inspired by “the feeling of floating that the main character felt in the French movie Le Ballon Rouge,” the designers at h220430 (see “About the Designer” for an explanation of the name) have created Balloon Bench, a truly fantastic feat of magic. The bench appears to be suspended in the air by large balloons. In reality, the bench hangs from the ceiling, attached by four anchors “concealed by the balloon shapes.”

Balloon Bench fools the eye, perhaps because we want it that way. The piece plays into our innermost desire to be fooled by a beautiful illusion—in this case, the illusion of flight. Like the flying carpets of The Arabian Nights and the floating women of modern magic shows, Balloon Bench caters to our love of lightness. Wouldn’t we all like to defy the laws of gravity and float away?

Balloon Bench is sold at Somewhere.

Via Moco Loco.

About the Designer: Japanese duo Satoshi Itasaka and Takuto Usami created h220430 on April 30th, Hesei 22 (Hesei is the name of Japan’s current era). The team designs lighting and furniture with a focus on solving modern problems. H220430 believes that good design can generate change the world over: “In some case, it has more influence than text and art and induces viewers to have the significant communication.” While designers cannot create dramatic changes all at once, “we can expect small effects of repeating.”