The top 10 chair list for 2010

As brand designers we love to re-imaging brands so they stand out in their market place and connect with audiences all over. So we love to see how different design disciplines re-imagine their communication space.

The humble chair is one of our favorite pieces of design communication, the communication between our minds and our bottoms. Probably my two favorite aspects of the human body. The marriage between from, function and ideas is what excites us most.

For me is it the common thread that runs through all creative disciplines from architects, to sculptures, to textile designer to graphics designers, all love the chair. I sense that the chair is so appealing because it is an open brief of genre defying proportions, ‘if you can sit on it then it’s a chair’.

So here are our top 10 chair designs of 2010. While the classics are classic and will always be, is great to new designers tackling the old chair conundrum. It just goes to show you that creativity is a never ending quest.

This nuggety goodness designed by Jaeuk Jung takes Michael Thonet’s design classic “chair No. 14” and  blurs the line between the new and the old, the traditional and the modern to create a unique a piece of furniture that is as sculptural as it is memorable.

Katie Thompson creates one off chairs out of old suitcases, it manages to breath life back in to an almost defunct object.

The Discussion Chair by Sam Baron is surprisingly delightful. It takes the chair format and weaves story telling all through the form.

Stefan Sagmeister foray into to chair design. Aptly named the Darwin chair has several different skins.

The ultra minimalist chair by Alexander Xanthakis a thin but sturdy chair made of soldered steel capable of supporting 1,000 kilos. “My assignment was to design a chair that combines strength and elegance while using a minimum of materials and production labor” says Alexander.

Designed by Kiwi&Pom the Disco Chair is a bespoke illuminated furniture concept. Constructed from 200 linear metres of Electroluminescent wire, the chair transforms into a neon rainbow when powered. A pulse setting enables the chair to flash on and off creating an instant disco installation.

Slick Black Lines chair, Slight black lines like the traces of sketches drawn in the air made transparent surfaces and volumes appear, which we assigned practical functions. The outlines remained after simplifying paintings of plants and animals. They are condensed expressions of meaning, similar to Japanese calligraphy. The designs gently break the relationship of before and behind, and traverse at times the space between two and three dimensions. Multi-faceted and constantly morphing, they move alternately between the becoming and collapse of form.

Mechanical perspective designed by Artem Zigert is an elegant rendition of how playing with perspective can result in sculptural seating. Straight lines, varied angles and spatial trickery provide a fascinating conversation piece.

The quirky Wiggle chair designed by Mustache, is right for all the wrong reasons.

To round out the list is this controversial design that see musician and entrepreneur Pharrell Williams teamed up with furniture designer Domeau & Pérès to create the Perspective chairs. The contemporary furniture pieces are featured in four colorways with leather, luxurious velour and veal skin wrapped seats.

Lachlan McDougall
Design Creative

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