Category:
Furniture

Easter Lifting and Heaving

Easter is early this year: March 31st. So you'd better bone up quick on the old practice of lifting strangers up in chairs.

According to Hone, the practice was common in Lancashire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and other parts of England. Groups of people would gather together in the street and physically lift those they came across into the air, expecting a financial reward in return. Hone describes the practice as differing slightly in different parts of the country:

In some parts the person is laid horizontally, in others placed in a sitting position on the bearers’ hands. Usually, when the lifting or heaving is within doors, a chair is produced, but in all cases the ceremony is incomplete without three distinct elevations. (SCM 03706, p. 426)

In Warwickshire, Easter Monday and Easter Tuesday were known as ‘heaving-day‘, because on the Monday it was the tradition for men to ‘heave and kiss the women’ and on the Tuesday for the women to do the same to the men. Hone viewed the practice as, ‘an absurd performance of the resurrection’ derived from the Catholic church.











Posted By: Paul - Tue Feb 06, 2024 - Comments (3)
Category: Furniture, Holidays, Regionalism, Foreign Customs, United Kingdom

Cremation Bed

Use it as a couch, a bed, or a coffin.

Available from dögg design.









via bookofjoe

Posted By: Alex - Fri Jun 09, 2023 - Comments (4)
Category: Death, Furniture

Coffin Chairs

London-based "Chairbox Design" has come out with what it calls "The Last Shift Office Chair." It's a coffin chair.

I don't think this is a product one can buy. Instead it seems to be a mock-up to make the point that sitting all day in offices is killing people.

Though if they aren't for sale, they should be. They'd be perfect for funeral homes, or vampires.





Coffin-shaped furniture is becoming a recurring theme. We've previously posted about the Coffin Cradle and the Coffin Bed.

Posted By: Alex - Wed Oct 05, 2022 - Comments (3)
Category: Death, Furniture

Nap Boxes

New from Japan: nap boxes. The idea is to discourage workers from locking themselves in toilet stalls to nap by instead offering them an upright container in which they can seal themselves and (somehow) nap.

Reminds me of the Iron Maiden torture device from medieval times.

More info: Bloomberg

Posted By: Alex - Sat Jul 23, 2022 - Comments (6)
Category: Furniture, Sleep and Dreams

Lamp Shade Queen

Pittsburgh Press - Apr 2, 1939

Posted By: Alex - Fri May 06, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Awards, Prizes, Competitions and Contests, Fashion, Furniture, 1930s

Hairdresser in a glass coffin

Celebrity hairstylist Antoine de Paris used to sleep in a glass coffin, which he claimed he would one day be buried in. He died in 1976, and whether he actually was buried in the glass coffin I haven't been able to find out.

Info from Logan Sisley:

Antoni "Antek" Cierplikowski was born in Poland in 1884 but made his name in Paris as Monsieur Antoine, hair stylist to the stars. In 1924 he purchased the top four floors of a Parisian apartment building which he set about remodelling as a School of Beauty and an apartment with sculpture studio. Construction of The House of Glass began in 1929. It occupied the upper floors of the building and contained the studio and living quarters. Glass was supplied by St Gobain, of whom Antoine claimed at one time to be the biggest client. The external walls were clad with large panes of opaque glass to eradicate the need for curtains, which Antoine believed had no place in the modern interior. The interiors were decorated extensively with glass including the staircase, a cupola, pillars, chairs and even a glass bed in the shape of a coffin, which attracted much press attention.

Dayton Daily News - Mar 25, 1932



"M. Antoine in the curious burial costume he has designed for his funeral"



From The San Francisco Examiner - Sep 25, 1932:

It is in the arrangements for his own funeral that Antoine's genius soars to its greatest height. In life, he surrounds himself with death, so in death he will be surrounded by sparkling life. He has engaged eight beautiful models to be his pall-bearers. They have agreed to be gay and sprightly and bright at his funeral, to shed no tears nor betray any sorrow. And, if he dies and they go through the ordeal successfully, they will be rewarded by provisions in his will.

But models die, get married, get fired, while Antoine continues to live. Always he must be replacing the original ones. He picks them out for their gaiety and their good looks.

More info: Polish Fashion Stories

Posted By: Alex - Tue Mar 15, 2022 - Comments (4)
Category: Death, Fashion, Furniture

The Princess Rajah Dance

Man, that gal's got some strong jaws--as you will see!

Posted By: Paul - Sun Mar 06, 2022 - Comments (0)
Category: Furniture, Human Marvels, 1900s, Dance

Malicious Bar Stool

Outfit your home bar with the 'malicious' bar stool. Available from 1stdibs.com. Price: $3,700 each.

Inspired by the ancient "Chair of Nails Torture", which was studded with spikes and used by inquisitors, "Malicious" was designed to create a feeling of disturbance, hesitation and fear in users. The purpose was to see the reactions and behavior of the users towards disturbing objects.





via Dave Barry

Posted By: Alex - Wed Jan 12, 2022 - Comments (1)
Category: Furniture

Swaying Chair

Zanesville Times Recorder - Jan 4, 1960

Posted By: Alex - Sat Nov 27, 2021 - Comments (3)
Category: Furniture, 1960s

The Climax Couch

Surely even in 1910 the name must have been suggestive.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Nov 20, 2021 - Comments (2)
Category: Furniture, Innuendo, Double Entendres, Symbolism, Nudge-Nudge-Wink-Wink and Subliminal Messages, Advertising, 1910s

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Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

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Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

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