This chair raised on blocks aims to tackle the "stupidity of the unawareness of the upcoming disaster" of climate change for countries where water levels could threaten everyday life.
Created by Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Boris Maas, The Urge To Sit Dry is a smoked-oak chair based on archetypal designs, raised on blocks of lighter European oak.

The blocks lift the chair to the height it would need to be to sit above the sea level in different scenarios.
The design of the chair means it can be easily adapted to reflect the levels of different places and also to show the impact of a potential rise in sea levels due to global warming.

The first example – shown at the Design Academy Eindhoven 2018 graduate show in October during Dutch Design Week – is calibrated for Maas' hometown of Rotterdam, which is 90 per cent below sea level. "This chair illustrates the need to stay safe in lower-lying regions," said Maas. "The unusually tall chair legs lift you above the tide, constructed out of blocks stacked in an act of panic."
"It stretches the imagination of the observer to the possibility of living on extensions," he added.

A brass marker is mounted on one of the chair's back legs, mimicking the plaques usually placed on walls and buildings in the Netherlands to mark the difference between the current land height and the sea levels.

Maas said the idea for the chair came from an initial desire to tackle global envi...