Those of us who inhabit compact spaces usually have desperate moments when we would do just about anything (donate teeth, cut off a toe, wear a tutu, etc.) to have an extra room. The thought of one more closet, a guest room or a craft studio seems like a silvery dream.
Well, now you can get your head out of the clouds and buy yourself a Cloud instead. The Swedish Cloud meeting room is an inflatable, portable room that can be installed in only 3 minutes and moved from place to place. It includes a carrying case on wheels for ultimate mobility and a fan that quietly keeps the room inflated. At the price of $5000 and up, it’s not for everybody.
Then we got to thinking: who buys the Cloud? The description says that it is an excellent spare room for “meeting, resting and concentrating.” We imagine yoga sessions and book club chats inside a giant bubble. It certainly would be novel.
Suppose you had Monopoly money to spend on an inflatable room (and maybe an inflatable Chesterfield). What would you do with your very own Cloud?
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not a fan. I imagine the motor has to run the whole time to keep it inflated. how noisy is that?!?!?!
Seems impractical. I am always trying to find ways to quarantine areas of my apartment for smelly/messy projects like sanding, spraypainting, woodworking, etc... But, I've always been able to set up a space using painter's tarps for 0.1% of the cost.
I would go on national TV and tell the world that the Cloud floated away with my 6 year old inside.
I cannot believe someone would pay $5,000.00 for this when we would make our own ghettofabulous "clouds" with a box fan and a sheet as kids (which I highly recommend). Just duct tape a large sheet around a box fan and then put blankets around the edges of the sheet. Turn on the fan and bam - you have your own air igloo.
@geep78 - LOL!
This is a pretty ridiculous contraption.
I remember the kid sheet igloos too.
This Cloud design won the Excellent Swedish Design prize by the Association of Swedish Form. Do you think it was worth an award if the design was just borrowed from creative, bored kids?
Once upon a time I lived in an art collective with a huge loft space, roof access, and lots of weird objects lying around. We had this houseguest from Europe come and stay, and he improvised something like this with a parachute and a box fan. We'd set it up on the roof and have crazy cloud parties inside. If this post didn't have SWEDEN written all over it, and if the house guest hadn't been French, I'd wonder if he hadn't patented the idea when he got home...
@Joydreamz: My little brother and I did that in the late 70s--we'd play with our Star Wars action figures inside. Too fun!
geep78--I'm with you! That's the FIRST thing I thought of when I saw this post! I thought this was a late joke about that horrible practical joke...WHAT were those parents thinking!!??
Kids might have fun with it. But meetings? No.
When I was growing up in Hawaii Nainoa Thompson used to travel around to the schools with an inflatable dome that was a portable planetarium. They would set it up in the conference room of the school library, and then we would get a presentation on celestial navigation. That experience is definitely one of the highlights of my education, even if I wouldn't be much help to someone adrift in the pacific. I bet these cloud rooms could have magical purposed for children too, although the price is a bit steep.
Ok, this memory is not of a cloud but it reminded me of the snow igloos my friends and I would make from the mounds of snow deposited on our sidewalk by snowplows. I'm trying to figure out what part of that cloud triggered that memory. It must be what it was like when we were sitting inside that mound of snow with the sun shining on it. Misty, thanks for the memory!
I think there is already something like that. It's called "a tent" and a lot less expensive or noisy.
;-)
I really like this. Not for $5,000, but imagine putting the in-laws up in the cloud instead of your office/guest/art room. You could put them out back if the weather is nice. Also, camping in the cloud! Love the yoga idea. This is really weird! Thanks for posting.