Take a Safe Seat on the Cut Chair

When it comes to design, there's minimalism and there's 'WTF-that-thing-defies-physics', and this is definitely the latter. Designer Peter Bristol's Cut Chair looks like an ordinary white chair that somebody sliced big diagonal chunks out of across the legs and back, leaving the seat seemingly unconnected to the front legs. Also, is it just us or is it weirdly cute that he made the cut parts red so it looks like the chair's bleeding?

It probably would have been tempting to leave people scratching their heads, but Bristol decided to reveal the secret behind the illusion on his website — the answer lies underneath the rug that the chair's sitting on, and it's surprisingly simple. The rug conceals a metal plate that the legs are all welded to, cantilevering the chair so you can sit on it. And if big grey shaggy rugs aren't your style, the rug part is customisable — it basically just has to cover the plate to complete the illusion.

The chair is available for purchase, but it'll set you back US$4000 — although if you had the money, seeing people's confused expressions when you offer them a seat would be priceless.

Via Fast Company.