This project is a collaborative effort with a material manufacturer to create a product for the Material Design Exhibition 2018 held by Material ConneXion Tokyo.

We worked together with BASF JAPAN, a branch BASF, a German company with a history that goes back 150 years and the world’s largest diversified chemicals manufacturer. Our goal was to develop a product using Elastollan®, a TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) created by BASF.
This material can be molded into a wide variety of shapes, but for this project, we decided on maximizing the potential of flat sheets. The chair was designed to utilize only Elastollan for the seat portion in order to fully show off its potential durability, strength, and ease of maintenance. With a thickness of just 0.8mm, it provides an airy, floating feeling while maintaining the stability needed in a place to sit. The catenary curve it forms is an expression of both beauty and functionality. The seat can easily be removed if the user wishes to change colors, and it can be rolled up and stacked when not in use, making this product break the mold of ordinary chair seats.

Ordinarily such a project would be intended for mass production and sale, but this seat’s purpose is intended to be a “seating experience device” to give trade show attendees a chance to truly test out Elastollan sheets for themselves.