The Design

The Frame

In the initial prototypes of the chair the frame was made from wood. In the final version, the Chair of the Future is supported by an aluminium frame. To ensure that the chair is sturdy enough to sit on and to allow a quick construction, alumium bars from Item24 were used. As one of the most recycled materials in the world, the metal fits our story perfectly.

Recycled plastic

The back of the chair is made from a creatively recycled plastic, manufactured by Sustaign. Melting plastic waste with a special technique, a marble-like texture is achieved, bridging the gap between industry and art.

Plastic is still synonymous with a growing economy and world-wide consumption. Therefore, we let its recycled form represent Economic Sustainability in our chair.

SeaWood

The base of the chair is built with a composite of green-waste and brown seaweed. The material, which is manufactured by BlueBlocks Concepts, is completely chemical-free and is made from truly renewable sources.

This chemical-free replacement for MDF reminds us of how we should look more often to nature for sustainable solutions. As a true example, it represents Environmental Sustainability in our chair.

Mycelium

The seat and one of the legs of the chair is made from mycelium. Mycelium is the root-like structure of fungi. For the chair, a substrate of wood chips and sheep wool was innoculated with a fungus and placed around the frame. After a growing period, the mycelium bound the substrate together to form a solid material. It was then dried in an ‘oven’ to kill the fungus and prevent it from growing further.

Mycelium is present in much of the Earth’s soil and is thought to play an important part in the ecosystems of forests. It allows plants to exchange nutrients and even communicate. We therefore saw it as a good analogy for Societal Sustainability.

Luminescent Solar Concentrator

All materials for the chair have been carefully chosen, including the material for our logo. The logo is made out of a Luminescent Solar Concentrator (LSC) plate from the ‘Stimuli-Responsive Functional Materials & Devices’ research group here at TU/e. The fluorescent dye within absorbs (sun)light and reemit this light (at longer wavelengths) to the sides of the plate. This gives this cool, fluorescent aesthetic to make our now self-lighting logo really stand out without the need of any power sources.

 

Although now used for its aesthetic qualities, LSC plates have the potential for many more applications which includes generating electrical power.