British designer Samuel Wilkinson has updated the classic director's chair, introducing a hidden mechanism that allows the fabric seat to be held in tension without any noticeable support.
The London-based designer created the Prop chair for The Conran Shop, which tasked him with creating a folding chair with a simple aesthetic that could be used indoors and outdoors.

Due to the retailer's customer base being focused around its main locations in London and Paris, the project was driven by the needs of high-end urban consumers.
"A lot of the customers we were targeting live in nice apartments but don't have lots of space," Wilkinson told Dezeen, "so it's useful for them to own flexible furniture that looks good on a terrace but can also work inside."
The Prop chair aims for a cleaner aesthetic than existing fabric folding-chairs, which typically feature horizontal struts that lock in place to push the two sides of the frame apart and maintain tension in the seat.
Wilkinson's design replaces this element with a specially developed mechanism hidden in the rear hinge between the back supports and arm sections.

The rotating mechanism allows the arms to fold in one direction and stop at 20 degrees in the other. This prevents the rails along the sides of the seat from hitting each other as the chair is folded.
The mechanism also locks the frame in place when it is unfolded, ensuring there is enough tension in the seat to comfortably support the sitter.
The f...