Surely, felt is not the first material that comes to mind when thinking of furniture or home accessories, regardless of their function. Felt is, however, widely used in a variety of interesting ans unusual ways. Felt furniture pieces and accessories make spaces stand out while being highly functional and practical. Designers used this underrated material and explored its many natural qualities and unique characteristics. The result was a series of innovative and very interesting designs that use felt in the most unusual ways and make us revisit our conception about the material.

Exquisite designs that use felt for increased comfort and looks

The FW (Felt/Wood) series is a collection of stools and benches made of this particular combination of materials. Their designs are simple and geometric, featuring wood frames decorated with lots of soft felt bands. This gives them a casual and comfortable look while also allowing them to be multifunctional. For example, use their surfaces as magazine holders.

The Magazine Rack is a sleek piece of furniture with a casual and very simple design. It can be used as a side table and as a magazine rack, featuring a hanging felt pocket. The top is removable and can be repositioned in various ways. The frame is made of leftover baltic birch with a laminate top. The wool felt pocket works great as a magazine rack, although cats enjoy using it as a hammock occasionally.

At the center of the Ruff Pouf there’s a solid circular drum made of expanded polystyrene and foam rubber. But this part is completely hidden under a pleated skirt made from felted wool. It was created using folding techniques and the result is a continuous design that gives the pouf a geometric look and, at the same time, an abstract and artistic look.

Wool felt was combined with a sleek metal frame to create the Wave room divider. The name is very suggestive given the design. The felt is arranged in waves and a total of 5 linear meters were used for each element. This unusual material was chosen in this case for this sound-absorbing qualities, giving the divider great potential in this sense.{found on Hey-sign}.

The sound proofing qualities of the felt are definitely worth considering when redesigning a space or choosing new accessories but the material also offers other great advantages. For example, an accent wall can be completely covered in felt pieces and this will give unique artistic qualities. In addition, this is also a stylish way to child proof a space. Check out what the designers at over.under created for additional inspiration.

The BuzziZone is a very interesting creation. It can be used as a partition wall and, because it’s made of felt, it has sound-proofing quality and is also kid-friendly. This makes it perfect for defining a kid’s corner, play space or for separating a work area from the rest of the room. Reading nooks could definitely use a feature like this as well.

Inspired by a metaphor, the Black Sheep stool was meant to stand out and its design definitely suggests that. This is the creation of designer Hanna Bramford as part of prototype project. The name is not entirely metaphorical. Part of the design process included working with a sheep farm. The wool gathered from there was shaped into felted balls which were then used to create the seat of these unusual stools.

The Wool Stool designed by Aud Julie Befring is a bit similar, in the sense that it too was inspired by a metaphor and has a seat made of felted wool balls. The designer wanted it to look fresh and playful, like “lambs on the spring fields”. The design was successful, featuring a simplistic wood base and a seat covered with cozy wool balls of different colors.

Versatility and playfulness are often characteristics of modern furniture. A good example is the Boa Shelf by Tuyo Design Studio. The design of the shelving system is very simple. Two individual shelves are connected by strips of felt. These run through slits in the shelves and form loops which can be used for storage. Bottles and books usually fit well in these felt loops although other options can be just as practical.

In the case of the Duffel stool and ottoman the inspiration came from a rather unexpected area. These casual-looking furniture pieces are inspired by luggage, more exactly by drawstring bags. The collection focuses on simplicity, practicality, durability and functionality. The stools and ottoman are upholstered with felt and each features a combination of two colors, referencing the leather bottom featured by duffel bags.

While felt can be a common material used for sofas, chairs or stools, storage cabinets and wall units don’t usually include it in their designs. Tetris, however, is an exception. It was designed by Swedish studio Front and is made of several stacked blocks and the door fronts can be covered with felt. Other details such as leather handles, steel legs and different colors can be added to personalize each piece.

Felt partitions already proved their advantages so now we’ll take things to another level. There’s a very interesting office interior that uses felt for more than that. This is the Tribal DDB office in Amsterdam. It was designed by i29 and its walls, ceilings, furniture and lamps are all covered in gray felt. The material was chosen for its sound-absorbing properties.

Ever felt like you want to crawl up in a cocoon and just stay there? Now you can actually do that thanks to an interesting creation called Hush designed by Freyja Sewell. Hush is a felt pod that lets you enjoy a little bit of privacy whenever you want to read a book, relax or take a nap. The pod is made of biodegradable materials and can be very practical is busy spaces such as offices or libraries.

The Felt Up chair was also designed to be very cozy. It was created by Charlotte Kingsnorth and is made from a single sheet of folded felt. A sleek steel frame allows the chair to maintain its shape. The felt seat provides a comfortable space and makes the chair perfect for areas such as reading corners.

Other chairs use felt in a rather different way. The FF1 chair has a very sculptural look. It’s made from a felt sheet and its shape is created using flax rope. The base and seat are crafted individually and then assembled together, giving the chair its final form.

Most other felt chairs or stools, however, are simpler than that. For example, Bokk felt stool ha a design inspired by old gymnastic equipment. It has a steel frame and a felt cushion and various combinations of colors are available. The stool has a tough, geometric appearance and, at the same time, is very comfortable.

Motek is a chair with a classical look. It’s the creation of Luca Nichetto for Cassina and has a seat and backrest made of felt. The felt is pressure-moulded in order to become rigid but this doesn’t make it lose its lightweight qualities. The seat features gentle folds inspired by Origami and the frame can either be made of wood or steel.

Benches sometimes include felt in their designs as well. The Slim Touch bench is one such example. It has a frame made of birch oiled plywood and its soft felt seat is removable. The bench actually comes with three interchangeable felt layers so its look can be adapted depending on the décor and occasion.

Designers Reed and Delphine Krakoff created an entire series of seats made of gray felt. It’s called the Felt Series and it includes classical chairs, stools and benches. They’re all made from flat sections of felt and assembled with exposed seams around wooden frames.

Stylish felt accessories

Simple and very practical, the Hoop felt basket is an accessory designed to be useful around the house in various different ways. Its design is simple and chic, combining felt and leather. Use it to store firewood by the fireplace, to organize your knitting supplies, to keep an extra blanket by the bed or extra pillows by the sofa.

Also versatile and very practical, this Storage Box is entirely made of felt. It has a square-shaped base and a carved out pattern on two of the sides. The simplicity of its design make it very versatile and perfect for a variety of spaces and uses. Take it in the bedroom and store an extra blanket, use it to store toiletries in the bathroom, books in the reading corner or toys in the nursery.

Although the idea is a bit unusual, felt lampshades are actually a thing. Milan-based Studio Klass created a series called Just Married. The pendant lamps are made of ceramic and felt which are stitched together with waxed thread. The felt shades give the light a diffuse and warm glow, making these lamps ideal for bedrooms or reading nooks.

Swedish designer Maximilian Winkel created a stylish Felt Lampshade in collaboration with Niklas Kull. What distinguishes this lampshades from others is its simplicity and practicality. It’s made of felt and has a circular base which is ideal for any type of bulb. It was designed to surround the bulb and to to be oft and flexible. It can be attached with Velcro flaps and has a small clip-in weight which lets you balance and stabilize it.

A felt shade is also a defining characteristic of this modern tripod stand. Designed by Tom Dixon, this tripod floor lamp is also available in a pendant version. Both feature lampshades made of felt and this gives them an organic and elegant look. The exterior of the shade is dark gray and the interior is white, for a fresh and chic look.

Felt also finds its way in the kitchen in the form of this practical and versatile knife holder. Designed to be easily attached to the wall using hooks, these felt pockets let you organize and safely store your knives while also saving space in the kitchen. The system was named Jacknife. It can hold up to five knives and a sharpening rod.

We mentioned at one point that felt is a great material for family homes with small kids. A lovely accessory that reinforces this idea is the No.1 Baby Mobile. It has a sleek wood frame and decorations made of both wood and wool felt. The design is simple, using soft, pastel colors which can be customized as desired. Also, both the wood frame and beads can be painted for a personalized look.

Let’s not forget about work spaces and the smaller accessories that can improve our comfort and make our desks more enjoyable and practical. One such accessory is this stylish Deskpad. It’s simple and elegant and features a leather strip on one side which lets you easily organize things. Also, you can use it as a mouse pad.

The sculptural vases designed by Siba Sahabi use felt in a very unusual and very interesting way. The vessels are made of felt strips using a potter’s wheel. They have a distinguishable ribbed finish and sculptural designs that mimic the hand-turned ceramics. The turntable is used here in a very ingenious way, allowing the designer to create the coiled vessels and to give pottery a new meaning.

This set of two decorative pillows is also made of felt. Their designs are modern and geometric, featuring hexagonal shapes and muted colors. The covers are made of wool felt and the filling is polyester fiberfill. You can choose from three possible combinations of color: ivory and blue, ivory and pink or blue and pink. {found on etsy}.

Cats know how to be stylish too. The furniture line created by Meyou includes three products that reflect that. Two of them as spherical cocoons which the cats can use as hiding placed, comfortable sleeping nooks or as scratching posts. The third is a stylish cat bed resembling a tiny tent. It has a solid wood frame and a wool felt cover.