Canopy Beds

I've done many interior designs in my life, all for myself, and have got to obtain and use most of the items I wanted. However a few still remain and one of them is a canopy bed. I'd like to write about these today, and also about how the object's original purpose, its full functionality can be stripped away until only a form, a reference remains.

Maybe one day, when we're all cyber augmented and plugged into the global matrix, the idea of sleep and hence having a bed will also become redundant, nothing but a nostalgic quote of the era long gone. However we're not there yet. We still need an actual space to actually lay down and sleep, and while we do this, we need to be cozy and warm, and feel safe and protected.

On the other side, as humans we build complex societal structures with hierarchies and crave objects to showcase our places in those hierarchies, be those limited edition designer bags, trophy model lovers or oversized mansions and castles. And yet when a king settles in his grand bedroom to sleep, surrounded by servants ready to cater to his every whim, he's still a fragile human being with a lot of animalistic instincts and in reality just wants to crawl into a dark enclosed space in the ground to feel private and comfortable.

So the first canopy beds were mainly used by royalty, elevated platforms with rods and layers of luxurious fabric hanging from them. Aside of privacy, those would also protect from insects such as spiders which must have been plentiful in buildings with tall ceilings, and also dust, water and even debris falling from poorly insulated roofs. While adding more to the grandeur of royalty, they still were very, very functional.

What I consider the peak of canopy bed functionality is a box bed. Yes, an actual wooden box with doors that you get into. Not anymore an object of high status, but a purely utilitarian middle class invention for winters in the cold climate where proper heating is unavailable or unaffordable. And sometimes these were bunk beds too! I like to see them as early prototypes of nowadays capsule hotels and future goo pods.

Now as construction technology has advanced greatly, we are able to build huge multistory hives with walls and locked doors, concrete collections of 1-4 bedroom pods, our own holes to crawl into at night and be safe, and private, and comfortable. Why would we need a canopy bed now?

Some people's might stack a fully ornate canopy bed into a rather small and overly decorated bedroom just to show off some of their wealth, that they can afford to spend on useless things. Some are enamored with romanticism of those early medieval times with candles, and castles, and knights, and princesses (and trying not to think how latter two would wash themselves once in a month, best case scenario). And I myself want my canopy bed to keep at least some of the original function and therefore am still waiting for a space where it would make sense.

I imagine a loft where there are no separate rooms, possibly with windows not covered by heavy curtains. A large minimalistic space which, even though pleasing to the eye, will lack coziness. And then a simple canopy bed with some sheer tulle will help feel more private and sleep better. This may also be a fully open space like some Bali nature living with no glass windows at all where saving oneself from mosquitos, and lizards, and other small forms of life crawling throughout would be an absolute necessity.

And at the end of the spectrum there are canopy beds which do not expect you to use any curtains at all. These are popular in kid's bedrooms where they are made to look like a tiny home, just like kids draw it on paper, a box with a triangle on top. These are nothing more than a shape, a quote, an idea of a box and ultimately — an idea of a home.

Safe from perils of hardcore survival and unburdened with actual problems to be solved we can afford to cast away functionality as redundant and indulge in pure ideas. This is some true luxury if you think about it. So after all, a canopy bed, even stripped to the bare carcass, is still is an object of luxury in its essence.