It’s not easy to make sense of the StoryTime Rocking Chair the first time you look at it. Is it a chair with two integrated tables, so you can eat two plates of food at the same time? Did the maker have too much extra wood on hand?  Is it a chair for alien life forms? Apparently, it’s none of the above, as the armrests are intended to double as seats for children, so you can read to three of your kids at the same time (the third one sits on your lap).
Created by Hal Taylor, the chair was borne out of necessity after he found it impossible to figure out how to seat all three kids on his lap during story time. Yes, he could have just sat on the floor with the kids around him and it would have worked out just fine, but aren’t you glad he created this monstrosity of a three-seated rocking chair? I mean, the world deserves a three-seated rocking chair, dammit.
The StoryTime Rocking Chair is a wooden rocking chair that trades in the traditional armrests for child-sized seats, each with their own individual backrests. Yes, it looks awkward, but the children look comfortable sitting on them, so we guess it will work fine until the children grow to a certain height. Each of the chairs, by the way, use around 262 separate pieces of wood that are individually cut, planed, and shaped by hand, so this is a legit heirloom piece that you can pass down to generations. If you’re wondering where those 262 pieces of wood are, note that each of the curved back braces and the rockers at the bottom are made up of multiple pieces of wood layered on top of each other, so this is stuff that should be as durable as it is weird-looking.
Want one? Taylor sells the StoryTime Rocking Chair made-to-order, priced between $7,000 and $7,500.