Collapsible Chair

Blå Station is a premium furniture producer targeting offices and public spaces. Their philosophy “design from an innovative perspective” is something that can be seen throughout their products, which often feature a novel manufacturing method or innovative use of materials.

The aim of this master thesis project is to develop a production ready, collapsible chair. The chair is to fit Blå Stations brand essence and the market’s perceived image of the company. The chair should fulfill all the found demands and requirements regarding ergonomics, branding, mechanical durability, safety, sustainability and economy.

A thorough research of collapsibility principles, manufacturing techniques, Blå Station as a brand and the market has been performed to gain a good understanding of the preconditions that the chair is to face. This was followed by an extensive ideation phase where numerous possible solutions and concepts were generated which resulted in a final concept called Applåd.

Applåd is a reinterpretation of the classic beach chair, in Sweden referred to as the ”Brasse” chair. A chair with maybe the worst reputation of quality and a big stamp of temporarity in its forehead. By adding innovative materials and design the Applåd chair have transformed it into a premium chair expressing quality and non-temporarity.

The result is a chair which aims to be perceived not as a fragile collapsible chair but a steady and trustworthy chair which has the collapsibility added to it as a bonus function.