Design Museum Brussels
    Design Museum Brussels

      The icon of the future

      Chaise. Stoel. Chair. Defining Design


      Where are we today?  It’s your turn to choose a chair that could represent and become an icon of our epoch. An icon first calls our attention and later maintains the fascination alive. There are many ingredients for doing this. We proposed this selection which is subjective and only wants to suggest some of the trends of the last decade.


      One would be technology. The development of new materials and techniques of production is a non-stop run. Designers are in permanent search of increasing our well-being through objects which are respectful of the users’ needs and the environment.


      Secondly, objects are materialized ideas that take form in tune with or in response to the cultural and social context, as well as the economic and political situation. In consequence, their familiar or unconventional character provoke diverse reactions in the users, both as individual and community.


      Last but not least, the very first public’s impression lies in the objects’ appearance. The aesthetic appeal results from the interaction of addressing different senses through colors, textures and materials.


      The winning chair will be revealed at the end of the exhibition on the website of the museum and the museum’s socialmedia : Facebook & Instagram



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      Inspired by a Paraguayan tribe, this solution finds comfort within lack of resources, reversing assumptions about well-being. Besides, its simplicity is an effective counterpart of the complex reality.

        Best
        Playful and enjoyable, it perfectly fits with the actual leisure-oriented society. These characteristics are obtained thanks to a long, handmade, and thoughtful process of creation.

          Best
          Transparent and immaterial… What could feel better than “sitting in the air”?

            Best
            The latest 3D intelligence leads to a high-comfort level and suggests a pleasant workplace by reducing parts and materials. Indeed, here it is the first frameless suspension-back chair.

              Best
              The never-ending pursue of fundamentality leads to a light, stackable, single-block, and recyclable chair. Such structural and ornamental optimization will always be desirable.

                Best
                Embracing simultaneously environment and technology, recycled plastic - apparent in the undulated texture - makes past visible while the innovative production through 3D printing makes so with future.

                  Best
                  Responding to the digitalization of human interactions, Duo seat encourages dialogue between the sitters as when one sits, the other reclines. It represents an optimistic interplay between materiality and people.

                    Best
                    Its fabrication file readable by a CNC router is downloadable for everyone, enabling open access to an engineer piece that guarantees support and fits in every environment.

                      Best
                      This chair brings together craftsmanship, industrialization, and the coming digital era, serving as a bridge toward a planet ruled by algorithms.

                        Best
                        The primitive colors and the innovative fiberglass makes this chair timeless; just as the allusion to motherhood through rounded lines is.

                          Best
                          The two missing legs are those of the sitter, creating an energetic bond between him/her and the chair. The attack to the idea of comfort and the dominant sedentary lifestyle promotes an active future.

                            Best
                            Thanks to the simple geometric figures, it fits every sort of body. This neutrality, together with its lightness and stackability, satisfies the needs of a globalized and pragmatic society.

                              Best
                              Besides improving flexibility, balance, coordination, and posture, this ball confers a casual and elegant touch that makes it suitable for every environment.

                                Best
                                Experimentation with natural and artificial fibres generates this revolutionary material, strong and biodegradable. Is interaction between local and the mass-produced elements the door towards a sustainable future?

                                  Best
                                  The combination of three 3D printers creates this safe-oriented wheelchair. This centrality of the human is further developed by facilitating the personalization of the seat and foot bay.

                                    Best
                                    This wearable exoskeleton is conceived for increasing companies’ productivity through guaranteeing the well-being of their employees. Undoubtedly, a futuristic inversion!

                                      Best
                                      Fusing machine and nature, this is the first 3D-printed-chair including living fungus. The strength and durability of this new material facilitates bringing any product to live!

                                        Best
                                        Unprecedented disruption of gendered body language in an every-day item, whose provocative tone is emphasized by the use of make-up for coloring it. An utter embodiment of the feminist call.

                                          Best
                                          Taking the use of technology a step further, this chair announces the beginning of a new era, the one of artificial intelligence. In it, generative design will draw every tool, furniture, ornament... Everything

                                            Best
                                            It takes a deep insight into plastics to discover new functions and eco-friendly ways of applying it. This consideration ennobles plastic as the material of the next generation.

                                              Best
                                              Dethroning the Superleggera for 40 grams, Ultraleggera weighs only 1660 g thanks to the cutting-edge FiDU technology. Which other records will be beaten by this promising laser innovation?

                                                Best
                                                Capsule creates an isolated site for facilitating concentration and unleashing imagination. Stylish, intimate, comfortable... And, more significantly nowadays, safe.

                                                  Best
                                                  The artificial method of scanning first natural elements and later printing them in as furniture contrasts with the pure result, which gives the impression of constituting an unconquered territory.

                                                    Best
                                                    An entirely recycled and recyclable chair is expected to be expensive. However, Bell chair overcomes the monobloc’s practical and economic problems, democratizing the respect for the environment.

                                                      Best
                                                      Through the suppression of details and the modern technology of gas injection moulding, Evo-C reaches the peak of comfort, grace, and stability in plastic design.

                                                        Best