Hasta La Ideas

London studio PearsonLloyd marries the convenience and economy of flat-pack furniture with quality materials in a chair designed for new Copenhagen brand Takt.

Named after the cross structure that forms its four legs, the Cross chair has a plywood seat and backrest, with the structure itself made from solid oak to give it the feel of a non-flatpack, high-quality chair.

The “strong but light” wooden chair was designed with the “goal of accessible pricing without compromising on quality or adversely affecting the environment”, according to PearsonLloyd.

The chair comes delivered in a recyclable flatpack box as four disassembled pieces of timber, with six screws.

Made from FSC-certified wood, it requires minimal instructions and a single Allen key to assemble at home.

The simple cross structure ensures that assembly of the seat is intuitive, without the frustration people often find assembling flatpack furniture.

“We wanted to find a design that communicated the principle of the assembly in a direct, understandable way,” explained founder and director of PearsonLloyd, Tom Lloyd.

“The way the two cross members overlap was inspired by the inserts in a wine box. It is immediately apparent that they go together in some way, meaning that almost no instructions are necessary.”

By the same token, the chair can be easily disassembled for recycling at the end of its life – a feature that was important to the Danish brand.

“We believe that modern design must consider both the form of a product and its full life-cycle – including responsible manufacturing, shipping, the user experience and how the product can be repaired, reused and recycled,” said founder and CEO of Takt, Henrik Taudorf Lorensen.

Ease of assembly and disassembly is one of a number of features by which Takt aims to reduce the chair’s environmental impact.

The brand sells directly to customers online to cut shipping costs and reduce supply chain complexity, which in turn reduces the emission of CO2 in transportation.

Six flat-packed Cross chairs fit into the same volume as a standard chair.

“Takt is aimed at people who want to reduce their impact on the world’s environment,” said Lloyd.

“Our flatpack design of Cross chair reduces the packaging size of a chair considerably while also engaging the customer in a self-evident assembly process that we hope will be joyful.”

The design is available in natural wood or with a black lacquer finish. It can be supplied with a seat pad upholstered in a variety of organic aniline leathers – meaning they are dyed with soluble dyes – or natural wool fabrics from Kvadrat.

PearsonLloyd is well-known for its designs for transport, including a number of projects for airlines including Lufthansa and a redesign of economy class seating to make better use of space.

The post PearsonLloyd gives flat-pack furniture an upgrade with Cross chair appeared first on Dezeen.