Hasta La Ideas

Knoll introduces an online hub for Generation chair fans to express their personal work-style

In today’s digital workspace, a good chair has become essential for those without in-office masseurs to soothe the cricks and cramps that come from prolonged periods at a desk. To really understand how people use their chairs at work, Knoll launched myGeneration, an online hub where people can share their individual work styles and experiences using Knoll’s ergonomic Generation chair.

Users begin by creating a Knoll profile, giving basic info, then explaining their workstyle and inspiration, and finally creating a personal tagline. They can also upload up to five action shots of how they use their chair, showing whether they’re a fan of swiveling, feet on the desk or a hardcore, hunched-over typist.

An entertaining and informative way to see people in their working environments, check out myGeneration online, where you can also click to purchase a customized Generation chair for $776.

The youth of today design a better classroom for tomorrow

Introducing design to youngsters, a recent collaboration between a uniquely-structured private school and two design firms instills the value of reshaping the everyday objects that surround us. The NYC-based project called Tools at Schools brought together The School at Columbia University, an eclectic mix of faculty offspring and denizens of Harlem, furniture manufacturer Bernhardt Design and top-seeded designers from Aruliden to reinvent the classroom in a way that’s comfortable, pleasing and above all else utilitarian.

That’s because Tools at Schools teaches that design is not just about aesthetics but about crafting everyday objects that work. Spending hours a day in class, these pupils are well-qualified to help improve the quality of life at school through design. The upshot is a furniture collection that includes ergonomic chairs and desks, which easily hold pens, pencils and books.

“I used to think that design was really exotic and abstract,” wrote one student in an testimonial. “The first thing I would think of when I heard the word ‘design’ was fashion. It amazes me to think back and see how off I was.”

The roughly four dozen students who participated learned the entire design and manufacturing process—from rough sketches, to 3D plans to shaping the first prototype. Being fully immersive allowed them to work with real-life materials and hone creative skills, teaching lessons in communication, art, mathematics and science in the process.

After 25 weeks, the fruits of this student labor have moved beyond the classroom laboratory, debuting at ICFF last week and moving on to the Museum of Arts and Design in November 2011.

Irish heritage tweeds in a debut line of elegant contemporary furniture

Officially launched at ICFF last week, Dublin furniture company Aodh produces quiet, elegant design for yesterday, today and tomorrow. Their first true line, The Malt Collection, was born out of collaboration between German chair designer Tom Kelley and owner Garrett O’Hagan, who formerly imported contemporary furniture. With ecologically sound production processes and using only the finest materials, Aodh aims to work with equally passionate designers to create furniture that is “grounded in values close to Ireland’s heart: hospitality, warmth, conviviality and nature.”

The Malt Collection consists of nine solid oak chairs inspired by different classic seating designs. Each inspirational design has been simplified, refined and updated to bring it to its finest state in terms of aesthetics and comfort. Designed for everyday use each chair is hand finished with natural oils to help the wood age and develop character well over time, giving the furniture a warm familiar feel.

To aid in comfort (both literally and figuratively), seven of the chairs are upholstered in local Donegal tweeds made from Irish sheep’s wool and dyes sourced from indigenous plants. The hand woven, Irish heritage tweeds add a personal touch to the stark wood chairs. And because each weaver’s work is different, each chair is unique by design.

The chairs work together as a universal collection, each designed for different uses and named accordingly: the Simple chair for at home or office, the Fireside chair, the Reading chair, the Conversation chair and the Rocking chair. A bench, weekend rocker and sofa will drop later this year. Aodh will soon be available online on 1 July 2011 and later through to-be-announced partners in New York and London this September. Prices range from around $400-1700. See more images after the jump.

Milan 2011: London designer Benjamin Hubert launched this chair with a pressed-felt shell at Ventura Lambrate in Milan last month.

Hubert talks about the design for Dutch brand Devorm in this interview Dezeen filmed with him in Milan for Dezeen Screen.

Called Pod, the chair has a steam-bent ash frame while the seat is pressed in one piece from felt made of recycled plastic bottles.

The product comes flat-packed and the shells stack inside each other for transportation.

Cushions are made of recycled foam with fabric covers in contrasting colours.

More about Benjamin Hubert on Dezeen »

More about Ventura Lambrate on Dezeen »

Here are some more details from Hubert:

Pod

Benjamin Hubert x Devorm

The ‘Pod’ is a large privacy chair for breakout areas in offices or residential projects.

Pod is an environmental alternative to large upholstered furniture. Most upholstery is difficult to recycle as it’s a fixed combination of timber, glue, foam and textile.

Pod tackles this by replacing the large upholstery with moulded felt created from recycled PET bottles. In addition the entire design is knock down with the shells stacking for minimum carbon footprint in transportation and storage.

The chair’s ergonomics allow the user to work comfortably whilst feeling relaxed and separated from the hustle and bustle of daily life. It creates a room-in-room experience with the perimeter of the chair around the user’s head.

The shell of the chair is the largest form ever produced utilising pressed PET felt technology. This felt allows a distinctive aesthetic as well as offering sound-dampening properties to increase the sensation of privacy with acoustic performance.

Recycled PET felt
Steam bent ash timber
Recycled foam cushions with kvadrat upholstery.
h 130cm x w 95cm x d 80cm

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Felt Up by Charlotte Kingsnorth	Dressed Up Furniture by KAMKAM	Nobody Chair by Komplot

Take your armchair outside with this clever riff on lawn furniture

Italian furniture designer Alessandra Baldereschi‘s work, while often surreal and usually ironic, is always completely functional. A moss chair lends a modernist form to an earthy material; a glass whale engulfs an indifferent fish. In her 2011 collection for Italian contemporary design company Skitsch shown recently at, Baldereschi gives the humble lawn chair a hefty dose of whimsy.

The FildeFer collection, practical, nostalgic and a little tongue-in-cheek, uses slim iron rods to deftly draw outlines of plush upholstery. Currently available in-store or by phone from Skitsch, it comes in gray, green, blue or white.