chairless by alejandro aravena for vitra

chairless by alejandro aravena for vitraimage courtesy of vitra

alejandro aravena saw a picture of an ayoreo indian sitting on the ground with a tight strap around his knees and back. this simplification of what he knew as a chair – a reduction to irreducibility – fascinated him, and he went on to capture ‘the potential’ of this seating device. following this experience, aravena ‘developed’ chairless in collaboration with vitra.

image courtesy of vitra

the product website states: ‘chairless is a seating device for the modern nomad. this sturdy strap of fabric allows its user to sit down in a relaxed manner – but with neither seat nor backrest. it is thus a solution par excellence for times when chairs are in short supply: lunch in the park, while waiting in a crowded airport, a picnic on the lawn, sitting down at a concert, reading on the beach and on countless other occasions. chairless is so light and compact that you can carry it with you wherever you go. chairless relieves the spine and legs, so that hugging your knees or using a support is no longer necessary. because the pressure is taken off so many areas of the body, you feel relaxed all over. now your hands are free to operate your laptop or your iPod, for reading, eating etc.

‘it is obvious that many things have evolved since the beginning of time and that progress has accumulated in our lives in the form of sophisticated needs and desires. but it is also true that there are many things and needs that haven’t changed much since our origins and they can still be satisfied in an extremely simple way: sitting comfortably on the ground is one of them.‘ – alejandro aravena

image courtesy of vitra

this article has far exceeded the length we had originally planned…because designboom is a little confused :

how does a very common string, used as a sitting tool, by someone who is completely independent from the oppression of consumption, stimulate an architect to create a product with a plus value of design?

image courtesy of vitra

in india it is not too uncommon to sit with the help of a string and it is hard not to see at least some people doing so on the street. this is one of the local habits that has been passed down from one generation to the other for hundreds of years. in the western world, if you train (within a respectable organization) to become a yoga teacher, among the first things you are told is: if you are new to meditation and have difficulties sitting comfortably for hours on a floor in an upright position, don’t worry. there is an ancient technique that most indians have used in the beginning.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BUY ANY DEVICE, because you do not need anything else but a strap (all over the world yoga adepts use them).

‘it’s not a gag, it’s a serious alternative to a chair’, said eckart maise, vitra’s head of design, research and development, during the presentation at milan design week 2010.

‘there are no more risks involved when using chairless than there are when using a conventional chair. in particular, where there are known knee or back problems, use of the chair should possibly be increased gradually in order for the user to become accustomed to it and to avoid adaptive reactions.’ dr. med. marco caimi states on the chairless website.

chairless practices

‘chairless’ by alejandro aravenaimage courtesy of vitra

the product website promotes: tell your friends on facebook and your followers on twitter about chairless

the chairless community – people posting their pictures

on the web people discuss wether it is comfortable or not, and therefore ‘chairless’ has been acclaimed by some design magazines as the most controversial design of the milan show.

we think that it is definitely a positive goal that vitra uses parts of the proceeds from chairless sales to support support the foundation for paraguayan indian communities, an organisation dedicated to securing land as a livelihood for the indigenous population of paraguay.

nevertheless we are still confused as to how to perceive the strap design. yoga exercises have been patented in the west, yoga straps are becoming a canvas for design expression?