Altar Furniture is a Budapest based company that specializes in unique pieces inspired by now obsolescent technology. According to András Lacfi, who founded the company in 2013, Altar creates “artifacts [that] are places of fun, domestic worship – a celebration of dedication, personality, boldness and a bit of nostalgia.” Lacfi and his partner Ernő Balogh started by upcycling old pinball machines into coffee tables, most of which are interactive and lavishly decorated. The company embraces a somewhat camp aesthetic with their wildly colorful and fun pieces.
In addition to their pinball tables, Altar has produced a number of tables designed to look like oversized cassettes. The cassettes range from classic albums to bootlegs, demos, and lovingly handmade mixes. If you have a favorite tape gathering dust in a box, some album that evokes a great deal of nostalgia, you could conceivably pass it along to Altar Furniture so that they could make a 1:10 scale copy of it. Conversion kits are available for each giant cassette, so that it can be used as a kitchen table, coffee table, or desk. Music lovers might also be interested in the company’s “Amper” collection, which features classic guitar amps that have been upcycled into poufs, tables, and other useful pieces of furniture.
Most of Altar’s cassette tables are available for approximately $2,100 USD, whereas the interactive pinball tables can cost upward of $16,000 USD.
