Art & Design? vs. Art or Design?

I’m currently in the chair studio and I’m working on a project on making a soft chair. Since my last chair project was based strictly on manufacturability and was trying to fit safely in the category of “chair” rather than exploring the possibility of what a chair can be and what it can do, I’ve decided to do something environmentally friendly with not-so-usual design. Through brainstorming, I thought maybe using unwanted and discarded articles of clothes would be a good substitute for immense amount of foam and battings that are needed for a traditionally upholstered chair. And also this idea reflects my bad habit of piling clothes on my chairs. Usually what happens is that I sometimes just sit on my chair without removing clothes on top of it. I’ve always in some way liked this feeling of sitting and lying on a pile of clothes. For example, I remember falling asleep in my closet when I was little, stumping all over the clothes, and I actually celebrated my own birthday in my closet.


However, this one problem kept stopping me from going further with my idea; “what if my chair turns out to be too crafty or too one-of-a-kind?” Even though I wanted to design that wasn’t so traditionally upholstered, I wanted something still soft and comfortable to sit on. Also, I wanted unusual design and function but I also wanted manufacturability with various users. So then I researched some designers who managed to push boundaries of what a chair can be and drew attention of media and press by their innovativeness and cleverness of their design.



This is Droog’s “Rag chair” by Tejo Remy. The chair is layered from the contents of 15 bags of rags. It arrives ready-made but the users have the option to recycle their own discarded clothes to be included in the design. Each piece is unique, but it can also become a treasured chest of memories.






“Habit Forming” chairs are designed by Lunar Design and they won the red dot ward of design concept 2007. Habit forming is a collection of chair concepts that explores the idea of what is a good or bad habit. Each concept embraces the habit of piling clothes on chair or trying to keep unwanted things (like pets) off chairs. The concepts challenge the way we view the typical function of a chair. Habit Forming chairs celebrate and playfully interact with those habits of piling clothes on chair rather than change those habits. Hampered Seating chair does not function unless it is filled with clothes. But as soon as it becomes comfortable to sit on, it reminds the user to do the laundry soon. Clothes Hanger’s shape imitates a chair silhouette, however, it is not for sitting. This design transforms formerly “bad” habit into the only function of the chair. These chairs allude to their conventional function but they reflect the designers’ inspiration of bad habit or unwanted and unexpected result.