Hasta La Ideas

Dutch designer Marcel Wanders has created an ultra-lightweight carbon fibre chair formed around party balloons.

The Carbon Balloon Chair made its European debut at the opening of Marcel Wanders‘ retrospective exhibition at Amsterdam’s Stedelijk Museum, which opened last week.

Weighing just 800 grams, the chair is handmade from party balloons filled with compressed air. The balloons are then wrapped in strips of carbon fibre and hardened with epoxy resin.

The netting for the seat is made from a grid of carbon fibre that is also hardened with resin.

“[The Carbon Balloon Chair] was conceived by Marcel as a challenge to all designers to create the world’s lightest chair,” said the studio. “Working with carbon is favoured by Marcel for its weight minimization possibilities. The chair requires fewer materials, generates less waste and is highly durable.”

The balloons are clearly visible in the design, which is reminiscent of the designer’s breakthrough Knotted Chair, for which Wanders used epoxy resin to harden macramé thread used for the frame.

Marcel Wanders: Pinned Up at the Stedelijk comprises a collection of Wanders’ work from the late 1980s to the present day. More than 400 objects are on display in the museum’s new lower-level gallery space, including furniture, lamps, cutlery, wallpaper, packaging and jewellery. The show will run until 15 June 2014.

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