A designer has given an ancient technique an upgrade that could transform how we furnish our homes — and the secret lies in an invisible matter that is all around us.
As DesignWanted detailed, designer Paul Crofts unveiled his Knit One Chair for Isomi at Chicago's NeoCon trade show in June. What makes this chair unique is that it uses air — rather than bio-based alternatives — to eliminate the need for plastic-based foams and padding, minimizing resource consumption through the use of 3D knitting.
"This time, I wanted to go even further and not just replace materials but remove them altogether where possible. It's about achieving comfort, structure, and volume with the absolute minimum," Crofts shared, per the Milan-based product design magazine.
While knitting has existed for thousands of years, Japanese company Shima Seiki is credited with introducing the first 3D-knitting machine at the ITMA trade fair in 1995. Today, designers such as Crofts continue to demonstrate its potential to reduce waste without sacrificing appeal.
The fluff inside our furniture may be easy to overlook, but its impact on the environment can sneakily add up, with manufacturing and transportation requiring material extraction and energy.
Then, at the end of its life, most furniture goes to landfills, where it can leach hazardous chemicals into the environment and produce methane. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans discard 12.1 million tons of furniture and furnishings every year.
Already, plenty of brands sell eco-friendly home decor. The internet is also abuzz with tales of secondhand shoppers scoring deals on furniture made to stand the test of time. The Knit One Chair might represent the next stage of evolution in sustainable design.
As DesignWanted explained, "3D knitting enables precise control over fabric density and structure, allowing different areas of the product to have varying levels of support and flexibility."
"Overall, the chair's modular design creates a continuous, solid volume that mimics the softness and fullness of regular upholstery, despite being composed solely of air and knit," it added.
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