$900 for an MDF bench. Enough said.

Wow, I voted before I read the price point. That said, this would be a lovely design to replicate- have the metal supports fabricated at a metal shop.

Basically good lines (w/the possible exception of those shin-grazer corners) but inferior materials. (And, if we're not supposed to pay attention to the "price point" -- as admonished in a previous design showcase post-- then why bother including it?)

I like it, but agree that $900 is too high.

But pretty much all of these entries have been overpriced. Hopefully they will be brought back down to reality if they ever go into production.

You'll probably be able to find a knock-off at IKEA in about a year. I'll probably get comments that IKEA isn't fine furniture---it isn't. And neither is this $900 MDF coffee table. Even if it is cool looking.

$900? Never... even if I had money to burn. I agree that most all of these enteries are so overpriced. Come on people- who can really afford this stuff and who is really going to buy it?

oops. meant "entries"

This just strengthens my point from the "Knock-off" post that price and superior quality don't go hand and hand. Most people when seeing a $900 coffee table wouldn't guess that it was made out of MDF and if we saw this same table at IKEA, we would probably guess somewhere in the $59.99 range. What makes this superior enough to warrant the price?

Maybe it's made from those rare Argentin(ian,e) MDF trees that I read about in the Onion.

First of all. I really like this bench. It's very refined and elegant. You can see that a lot of thought that went into designing it. Well done!
Second of all. To all of the people who are griping about the price point... Ikea can get away with charging $59.99 because their stuff is made in MASS quantities and sold in high high volumes. Not all furniture is meant for that kind of bargain bin mass consumption market and therefor the price tends to be a higher. I can definitely see this being sold at specialty high end boutique store for that amount.
Bottom line is Designers deserve to be paid for good design.

Really nice design, but the price is outrageous!

redbeard just what I was going to say.

while I usually side with Redbeard about price I just know too much about MDF to think that $900 is an appropriate price-point for this object. Imagine the first person to leave a cold glass of water on a hot day. The finish is going to be ruined.

What I think a lot of designers lose is the real-world practicality of materials. MDF in itself is a great material - provided you protect the surface from moisture and scratches. This should be MDF with a laminate top ala the Saarinen table and it would be good. And drop the price by about 40%.

redbeard,

I still don't understand what makes this "Good Design" vs if this was from IKEA and mass produced in the thousands. The design would be the same, wouldn't it? As for the amount of thought that went into it, I don't think the products at IKEA are created by the cashiers on their lunch breaks.

I'm not saying designers shouldn't be paid for their work. What I am saying is that because something is more expensive, it isn't necessarily a higher quality of materials, etc., as some argued.

If this post was, "New IKEA coffee table" and the price was, let's say $400, most of the responses would have consisted of,"WTF...for MDF?" or something like that which makes me question, "Is the difference between High-End and bargain bin really the price-tag?"

As someone who makes furniture for myself using materials like MDF and toys with the idea of doing it for a living, I always thought that I couldn't use that material in a significant way or people would never go for it but now, I see I was wrong.

btw...I really like the design of this piece.

$900. MDF. NO.

I do agree that good designers do deserve to be compensated for GOOD designs.

This, however, no way.

If I even LIKED this style of furniture, I still wouldn't pay more than $300-$400 for it. And even that is a stretch. But items that are sturdily built are definitely worth what you'd pay over the big-box-fiberboard. Oh wait, what's that you say, this bench is made out of fiberboard?

(laughs)

i loved it til i saw the price...

MDF and steel alone do not equal $900. This is true. But when you buy a piece of furniture, you aren't just paying for the materials, you are also paying for the labor, finishing, and the designer's intellectual property. If this designer feels like his design is worth $900, then he should ask for that price.
And one more thing. MDF is not the same as the cheap-o pressboard stuff that Ikea furniture is made out of. MDF is a higher quality material and is more expensive than the pressboard stuff.

Some of IKEA's furniture is made of MDF as well as the less expensive Particleboard. Since I have so much of it in my closet, I can tell you that a 3/4x48x97" piece of MDF at Lowe's sells for $24.

Sorry, I just watched "Objectified" last week and it got me thinking, lol.

That's it, I'm done!

Don't listen to them, Norman, you rule!

This odd fixation on a made up "sample" price is out of control. Almost every post on every listing is about these fake prices, and not about the ideas. The price, while interesting in so far as it reveals something about the designer's costs, is not the central idea here. Good design is. And that is getting lost in some delusional outrage over prices that DON'T EXIST. Comment on the price if you so wish, but please add something to the conversation that actually helps these designers make their products better or more effective.

Good design does not begin and end with a price tag.

As a matter of perspective, you should remember that materials and labor are, at most, 1/4 of the price of anything you buy. Anything. So if you want to get an idea of what it costs these designers to produce a limited run sample of the idea you see, divide that "outrageous" price by 4. That base cost is typically doubled and called "wholesale" when they sell that piece to a furniture store. That allows the design company to actually earn a living after paying the material and labor costs on their design. The typical furniture store will (at least) double the wholesale price to sell the item to you. That is so the furniture store can pay its rent and employees and remain in business. So your price is always (even at Ikea) at least 4 times higher than actual costs.

Obviously, a larger order means lower costs which means lower prices for everyone. That is something that can't be factored in here because these people have only their one-off, very high, sample manufacturing costs to go by. It costs a lot of money to get a prototype made, and I would suspect that is why you see the prices you do.

Trust me, if CB2 likes these designs, they will simply whip the manufacturing over to China, replace the mdf with the much, much cheaper, low grade particleboard (like Ikea), replace the powdercoated steel with chrome paint, hand you an allen wrench, a page of instructions, and toss it into stores at a $299 price point.

So judge the ideas, not the prices.

What ever

If the benchtops were solid teak or walnut, I daresay that we'd be saying how very nice this is...
...but MDF? No way.

If the bench top were solid teak or walnut, the 'price point' would be $4000, and you'd still be complaining...

Thanks to all for the feedback and comments.

Regarding the price, as RichardinLA articulated, this is a prototype made in extremely limited numbers, and unfortunately the price reflects the high cost of producing it. If this piece were to become mass produced, the cost would certainly be lower.

Haha thanks megbot, you're the best!

@ modernguy, is there really an article in the Onion about MDF trees? Sounds hilarious, but I couldn't find it...

Contact: steelcircle@gmail.com