2011
author
Jakub Marzoch (PL)
title
Inteligentny fotel bujany Flat
degree
B.A. project
e-mail
school
Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
supervisor
Jerzy Porębski
This piece of furniture caught our attention with its formal elegance, its pleasing simplicity, and the taste of its rocking construction. The neutral color scheme combined with matte‑colored steel and ideally smooth, elastic fabric reminds me more of a solid, well‑situated piece of architecture than a scruffy and aesthetically indifferent seat. A rocking chair, after all, we often imagine as a shabby inheritance from our grandparents or a nouveau‑riche fusion of wooden rockers and upholstered office chairs. Through this form and the elastic membrane, the designer has teleported us into the future, when furniture will be adapted to every user. The subject of natural adaptation of the surface of the seat to the build of our bodies is extraordinarily broad and interesting. Establishing the workings of this kind of “membrane,” depending on its thickness and elasticity at points of contact with a person’s body, could be a valuable experiment for the furniture industry. In a word: more ergonomics than fun. Coupling the effects of the shaping of the membrane, which is not entirely controllable, with the pendulum movement of the whole construction gives this design something unpredictable, which can be perceived as a kind of entertainment or a design experiment. The one weak point of the design is the steel structure of the frame running directly under the sitter’s knees. Elderly people in particular could feel their legs go numb when sitting for longer periods.