My favorite design is the Tip Ton Chair designed by Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby. I found this design when I was looking through a copy of Curve magazine.
I like this chair because it is a well designed price of furniture that solves back problems. It was designed for school and learning environments so it is cheap to produce and purchase, can be stacked in an efficient manner to save space when necessary. The chair has also been designed so that the user can rock forward on it while keeping their back straight.
As Barber and Osgerby found during research, while students sit at a desk, their back needs to be straight the entire time to avoid pain and problems later in life. They also discovered that it is human nature to lean into the work on their desk, this is why students rock on their chairs while doing work at a desk. The Tip Top Chair was designed to encourage the forward leaning motion with the two stage flat legs that run along the bottom of the chair. This way, the user of the chair can lean forward into their work and also keep their back straight in the chair.
A very ergonomic piece of design.
Matt Harding
References:
http://hypebeast.com/2011/04/tip-ton-chair-by-barber-osgerby-for-vitra/
http://www.vitra.com/en-un/home/products/tip-ton/overview/
I think this is a brilliant design for posture, but how comfortable is it? I would love to see designs like this being implemented in schools!
ReplyDeleteThis brought to mind a chair I saw in the newdesign magazine awhile back: The Stubborn Chair. Studio Makkink and Bey melted together two stackable chairs placed slightly off center. The result is intended to improve the user's seating experience. Bey said of the design, "One never sits on a chair the way it is meant to be used: you sit on it like this, or you could sit on it like that, in the end you'll have a chair that is never right, and that is always right - a very stubborn chair."
http://www.studiomakkinkbey.nl/list/products/4069_stubborn_chair
Steph Tan