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Don’t get us wrong. We’re completely enamoured with Duffy London’s new glass-topped coffee table that looks like it’s being supported by a cluster of helium balloons. We’re just not sure calling it the UP was the best idea. That mouse can be very litigious!
Obviously inspired by the Disney/Pixar flick Up, the balloons under the table are actually made from a metal resin composite with a strengthened steel rod as the string. What? You didn’t think the whole thing actually floated did you? That would cost a fortune in helium. Not that the £2,500-plus table isn’t already expensive as it is. But if you want one you better act fast, since just 20 are being hand built.
[Duffy London via The Fancy]
Given the metallised appearance of the balloons, the first apparent ‘inspiration’ to come to my mind was Jeff Koons, not Disney. This doesn’t look particularly Disney at all.
Also, developing a new movie where a house flies away under the power of balloons and calling it “Up” would be a rip-off. However, unless Disney has recently got into the arthouse/lifestyle furniture business, it seems something of a stretch to suggest that calling a balloon-themed not-disney-style table “Up” is somehow stepping on the toes of a movie. The Disney movie was not, after all, the first time in history that the concept of using balloons as a means of lift or support had ever been developed, and “Up” is a pretty generic word.
i think it would look so much better if they were different colours and translucent like the UP ones (and real ones!)but yeah the names not ideal if Disney did decide to be bumholes about it.
i wonder how much it would cost to have these balloons printed by Shapeways in metal and then powder coated……..probably more than this cost
i need to be rich so i can actually buy some of this stuff!!
Disney didn’t invent balloons. Or tables. Or the fact that balloons that have helium in them go ‘up’
Or the word “up”, for that matter.
Hmmm. Send a few snap shots of this table to a furniture manufacturer in China. Tell them to use semi transparent perspex for the balloons, in a range of colours. Then, price each unit at £3999 with only 10 being made.
If you sold them for £50, every chav would have one.