Three design students from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have created a chair that is primarily used for cultivating plant life.
Alice Hultqvist, Emelie Sjöberg and Linnea Nilsson created the Chia-Chair on the basis that it should accommodate nature first and humans second.
Instead of traditional cushions or upholstery, the chair's seat and backrest is a knitted, knotted tube that serves as a planting bed for chia seeds.
Chia-Chair was designed by Alice Hultqvist, Emelie Sjöberg and Linnea Nilsson
"The plant is the primary user of Chia-Chair and humans are only temporary visitors," said the trio.
"The seating furniture becomes its own entity that not only assumes but demands respect from the user."
Hultqvist, Sjöberg and Nilsson are all students on the MA Design programme at HDK-Valand, the University of Gothenburg's art and design academy. Chia seeds were planted in its cushions
They created Chia-Chair for the exhibition Making Transparency, an exploration into posthumanist design, which was presented in Stockholm Furniture Fair's student-focused Greenhouse section.
The designers planted seeds in the chair in the days running up to the fair, so visitors could observe the shoots growing across the duration of the exhibition.
The aim was to make nature the primary user and humans second
The designers came up with the concept after thinking about the negative impact that we as humans have had on the planet, but prioritising our own needs before...