Dezeen's ten most popular stories about design with balloons

Our most visited story last week was about an installation of 100,000 white balloons at Covent Garden in London. Stories about the child-friendly inflatables are always popular on Dezeen so we've assembled our all-time top ten balloon posts, including a bridge, an airship and a levitating bench.

Passing Cloud by Tiago Barros

New York architect Tiago Barros proposed a transport solution based on floating balloons. — New York architect Tiago Barros proposed a transport solution based on floating bundles of balloons.

Most popular ever is this not-entirely serious proposal by New York architect Tiago Barros for a transport network made up of clusters of people-carrying balloons resembling clouds.

Pont de Singe bridge by Olivier Grossetête

French artist Olivier Grossetête's temporary Pont de Singe was erected over a lake in Tatton Park, a historic estate in north-west England.

Second most popular is this bridge held up by helium balloons, designed by French artist Olivier Grossetête.

Heartbeat by Charles Pétillon

French artist Charles Pétillon installed a giant cloud of balloons under the roof of the 19th-century Market Building in London's Covent Garden.

Number three is last week's story about Charles Pétillon's Heartbeat installation in London. With 100,000 balloons, this holds the record for the sheer number of the puff-sapping rubber sacs.

Invasions by Charles Pétillon

Balloon-loving artist Charles Pétillon also stuffed the white globes into houses, cars and sports facilities in this series of installations.

Charles Pétillon is also at number four, this time with a project that involved placing constellations of the gas-filled bladders in abandoned buildings, vehicles and sports facilities.

Balloon Swing by Jesse Lockhart-Krause

Australian architect Jesse Lockhart-Krause proposed this balloon swing for a park in Queens, New York.

Number five is this proposal by architect Jesse Lockhart-Krause for a swing suspended from a hot-air balloon moored in a New York park.

Elements collection by Jomi Evers Solheim

Swedish designer Jomi Evers Solheim created a collection of porcelain vases using water-filled balloons as moulds. — Jomi Evers Solheim created a collection of porcelain vases using balloons as moulds.

Number six is this series of porcelain vases by Swedish designer Jomi Evers Solheim, who used water-filled balloons as moulds.

Shinseon Play by Moon Ji Bang

Korean architecture collective Moon Ji Bang created this temporary field of mushroom-shaped inflatables.

Visitors to Korea's National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art last year were treated to a landscape of giant inflatable mushrooms, in our seventh most popular balloon post of all time.

Lichtgrenze by Whitevoid and Bauderfilm

The Lichtgrenze (border of light) installation was created by interaction designers Whitevoid and film studio Bauderfilm.

How better to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall than with an installation of balloons? Eight thousand of the bubbles traced the former route of the wall in our eighth most popular post.

Balloon Bench by h220430

This floating bench by Japanese studio h220430 appears to be held up by bunches of balloons at either end. — This floating bench appears to be held up by bunches of balloons at either end.

At number nine is this bench by Japanese studio h220430, which appears to be kept off the ground by bunches of, you guessed it, balloons. The same designers also created a chair that employs the same anti-gravity principles.

Carbon Balloon Chair by Marcel Wanders

Marcel Wanders' carbon-fibre chair is modelled on party balloons.

Rounding off our top ten is the carbon-fibre Balloon Chair by Marcel Wanders, which is designed to look as if it was made out of the balloons that party entertainers use to make model sausage dogs, and is probably almost as light.