The Floating Bed

What comes to mind when you think about the design of a bed? Usually they are either small and skimpy or large and gaudy, and either way you think of them... it's usually a cookie cutter design and not something unique. Well while reading the other day I came across this gem. This is the Floating Bed, and product of Dutch architect / founder of Universe Architecture Janjaap Ruijssenaars. 

While visually impressive, the bed operates on the basic principals of magnetism. Using opposing industrial magnets (which I'm assuming are rare earth magnets like Neodymium) the bed appears to float, and the only thing actually touching the ground are 4 super thin wires which keep the bed tethered in place and prevent it from floating away from the magnets. 

Now this does look really sexy, but there is a catch... You'll have to pay through the nose for this product. The smaller version of the bed capable of lifting 80Kg (1/5 scale), is currently listed EU€115,000 ($149,000) and the full size bed goes for a ridiculous sum of EU€1,200,000 ($1,554,439.60). So why in the world would anyone pay full price for this?? I know it looks sexy, and it does! But more than a million dollars for a bed? That's ludicrous, you either have to be a billionaire with nothing better to waste your money on, or just completely  stupid to spend soooo much money on a bed. 

Here's a tip, I purchased some Neodymium magnets from a local hardware store when I was building a free energy motor, and although I purchased some of the smaller rare earth magnets, each one of the discs in the picture below is capable of lifting 30lbs with ease! 

I believe the 20 magnets I bought ended up costing me a little over $30...You do the math, how much do you weigh? How much does your matress/bed weigh? If you really want a floating bed bad enough, you can build one of your own at a fraction of the cost. Although the design from Universe Architecture is very sleek and sexy... I can't justify spending that kind of cash... especially on a bed that only looks cool, not comfortable.