Entries Tagged 'Plastic Chairs' ↓

Versatile furniture items are in abundance nowadays. We have chairs that can be stacked, tables that can be extended, beds that can be folded up to function as couches. We take them for granted because they are so much a part of modern life. And it’s thanks to people like Joe Colombo that such furniture items have made daily life easier and more convenient.

This Italian designer was born in 1930 and died young, at only age 41. Still, he chalked up a remarkable career in the design world, creating many innovative products, one of which was the Universale chair of the 1960s. At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything remarkable about this piece seating furniture. Made of plastic and stackable, what’s so special about that? It sounded simple. But its very simplicity is what makes it versatile and unique.

Specifically, it’s this plastic chair’s height adjustability that made it unique in its day. All a person had to do was to remove or replace the Universale’s legs with others and presto – you had a dining chair, a bar stool, or a low stool. Colombo did not need machines to create levers or gas lifts to enable the chair’s height adjustment. It’s kind of toylike, actually; just add or remove certain parts – in this case, the legs – to come up with a slightly different looking product. The only foreseeable problem is being careless and misplacing the chair’s legs!

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If you’ve ever been to a restaurant that counts children as an important part of its clientele, you’ve probably seen the type of furniture it features: life-size figures of comic book characters or superheroes, brightly colored tables shaped like flowers or mushrooms and the like. Some have animal chairs, complete with fake fur or feathers. While they certainly would attract a child, I’m wondering how much a hassle it would be to clean up and maintain such chairs, especially knowing how children can create a mess with their food sometimes.

But if a restaurant used something like the Panton Junior chair manufactured by Vistra, then cleanup and maintenance would be a lot easier. Sure, it may not be as fun as say, a giraffe or lion chair, but I think children would still find its catchy shape and form attractive. And since the Panton Junior chairs are made of plastic and are stackable, they are less of a headache for restaurant owners to clean and store.

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Trippy. Colorful. Candy. These are the words that came to mind when I first came across pictures of furniture designed by Karim Rashid. He was born in Egypt, raised in Canada, and now lives in New York City. Maybe his experience of different cultures has had an impact on his designs, who knows for sure? But some things are certain: he is a force to be reckoned with in the design industry, and his pieces are seen and appreciated in commercial settings in various places all over the world.

Take the Love Seat, for example. It doesn’t look anything like your typical contract hotel furniture. Actually, I don’t think it was designed for a hotel setting at all. In fact, Rashid created it especially for champagne-maker Veuve Clicquot (hence the receptacle for a bottle of champagne separating the two seats). But there is at least one hotel that prominently features the Rashid Love Seat – in the lobby, no less – and it’s the Murano Urban Resort in Paris, France. Looking like large flower petals, it fits in rather well with the hotel’s playful design scheme.

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The versatility, convenience, and affordability of monobloc plastic chairs cannot be disputed. That’s why you can see them almost everywhere: in homes, at public functions, and especially in dining establishments: cafes, bistros, restaurants, bars. But there’s also no denying that these generic-looking plastic chairs aren’t that pleasing to the eye. Contemporary bistro furniture and the like shouldn’t just be functional; they should be visually aesthetic too.

The FLY chair, designed by Bergamo, Italy-based Marco Acerbis is one example of a piece of furniture that combines both traits. Manufactured from gas vacuum molded plastic, its light and airy look belies its strength and durability. I like how the chair’s curves aren’t monotonous. Making it more visually appealing is the way the glossy finish of the seat and back contrasts with and yet complements the matte finish of the legs and the rest of the chair. The FLY chair measures 80 cm high, 54 cm wide, and with a seat height of 47 cm. And just like your average monobloc chairs, it’s very versatile too because of its light weight and stackability. It’s just as space-saving and convenient as run-of-the-mill monoblocs, only much better looking. I can see them being used as bistro café chairs or as furniture in other casual settings that don’t want a cheap, generic look when it comes to their chairs.

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