THE CAIRN CHAIR
The Cairn Chair is a dining chair designed for Roche Bobois, a high-end French furniture brand. The chair has won the first prize and now being prototyped by the factory in France. It was inspired by the stone formation Cairn, which has been used thousands of years for people to mark the paths and to find their way home. The chair looked into how the balance of the body movement is applied to simple organic geometry, and how comfort is achieved by balancing the body and the natural formations of the chair.
Our challenge was how to interpret the organic natural forms of pebbles into a chair. It was important to create an illusion that the pebbles were balancing on each other whilst still providing comfort and support to the body.
Illusion is created through the balance of natural formations.
Simplified structure is achieved to meet the aesthetic of organic forms.
And we drew tension between the forms, supported different body postures.
In order to achieve the organic nature that resonates with our perception of pebbles, we look into woolen upholstery and millinery techniques that would allow volume and smoothness.
The poetic language needed to carry through to the legs and careful consideration to details of where the legs and the base meet.
We’ve set out to bring nature into our dining experience through the form. The variation of different forms creates a dynamic landscape around the dining table. The character of each chair offers individual seating for different individuals.
We became curious about the diversity of Roche Bobois customer. Eccentric, modern and avant garde, The Cairn gives customers the opportunity to customize their dining chairs to suite their personality.
Sketches
Form Exploration: We tried different combinations of cushion shapes and sizes. We looked at creating a dynamic tension between pebble combinations with the idea that it would offer freedom of movement to the body.
Model Testing: We built several test models testing the types of affordances that the chair gives to the body. We looked at the shapes, sizes softness and curvatures of the chair and how the chair engages the body to move.
Press
Press
Purchase