One of the highlights of the Circular Economy in Architecture and Design exhibition is the project, ‘RING - Variable Durability. An Upholstered Chair’. It is the work of Ann Kirstine Riemann, a graduate of the Furniture programme. Ann Kirstine has designed a chair, all parts of which can be replaced as they get worn, or if you just fancy a new look.
The circular chair was designed with the purpose of consolidating various sustainable principles. Each part of the chair represents an aspect of aesthetic sustainability, and the chair as a whole is an expression of circular economy.
The chair’s upholstered parts are designed so that all materials can easily be separated, and therefore can again be part of new material circuits.
The focus is on people, because the choices of material for the individual elements of the chair reflect a personal choice and are easy to replace. That means the chair can easily acquire a new look, and you do not have to replace the entire chair if, for instance, you get tired of the colour of the cover.
Based on aesthetic sustainability, the work involved the emotional ties, which can be forged in various ways between humans and objects. So the chair is a proposal for a long-lasting item of furniture and a critique of the use-it-and-throw-it-away culture.
