cabbage chair

Tokyo
21_21 DESIGN SIGHT
2008.03

Nendo company designed the cabbage chair for XXIst Century Man exhibition curated by Issey Miyake to commemorate the first anniversary of 21_21 Design Sight in Roppongi, Tokyo.

The chair is made out of the pleated paper that is produced in mass amounts during the process of making pleated fabric, and usually abandoned as an unwanted by-product.The creator transformed a roll of pleated paper into a small chair that appears naturally as you peel away its outside layers, one layer at a time. Resins are added during the original paper production process so as to add strength and the ability to remember forms. The pleats themselves give the chair elasticity and a springy resilience, for an overall effect that looks almost rough, but gives the user a soft, comfortable seating experience.

i like how this chair is cleverly made by using unwanted by-product. It is not only environmentally friendly, but also functional and most importantly, looks totally cool. The cabbage chair goes minimalist from it's material, it's making process, the colour, the texture to it's form before and after it is "peeled". The chair has no internal structure. It is not finished, and it is assembled without nails or screws. Like a cabbage, the chair has a core where the side of which is being peeled off bit by bit until it forms the shape of a chair.