Over the years, furniture hasn’t really evolved The tools we use to make furniture have evolved, but the furniture itself has remained largely the same.

Well, that’s not the case anymore as Belgian designer and engineer Carl de Smet has created a smart foam technology that can be packed down to a small size, and then expanded to a set shape when heated. It’s like a shrinky dink in reverse. Check it out:

Interestingly enough, the foam would allow consumers to shape the furniture into whatever shape they would want. An example from the video above is a lounging chair that can be reshaped into a short stool.

De Smet hopes to have his expanding foam furniture on the market by next year. It seems that he also wants to bring some competition to Ikea, the current champion of cheap, easy-to-assemble furniture. He may do just that if his full-sized foam furniture behaves like current, smaller prototypes.

[BBC News via Engadget]