Dutch architect Janjaap Ruijssenaars has created an amazing new bed that floats in the air. But this bed doesn’t use futuristic hovercraft technology or magic from a genie’s lamp to fly. Instead, it employs powerful magnets that keep it suspended about 16 inches off the ground. The most recent model can support up to 176 pounds, which means that at least for now the Floating Bed is a sleep experience for one person at time.
The technology took a reported estimated six years for Ruijssenaars to perfect in collaboration with Bakker Magnetics, but uses a simple scientific principle of opposing magnets. Powerful industrial-grade opposing magnets are built in to the surface below the bed and the floor underneath it, creating a force strong enough to defy gravity.
But it’s been four years since the Floating Bed premiered at the June 2006 Millionaire Fair in Belgium without it really catching on in the marketplace. This may be because the future isn’t cheap; the scale model alone costs US $153,000 and the full-size edition is expected to clock in at just over a cool US $1.5 million.
Forget the limitations and restrictive price—how cool to have your own floating bed! Not only would it make for an eye-popping showpiece at home, but it would keep creatures like New York City’s recent outbreak of bed bugs from crawling up in the night to disturb your sleep. I’ll wait a few more years, and hope that a great knock-off version might show up at IKEA.
