FRIEZE NEW YORK 2013
INTERNATIONAL HOME + HOUSEWARES SHOW 2013
TOKYO DESIGN WEEK 2012
BEIJING DESIGN WEEK 2012
Like so many entrepreneurial-minded designers today, Daniel Aristizabal and Jose Manual Carvajal of Medellín, Colombia have turned to Kickstarter to launch their company. QSTO's (pronounced "KOO-sto") flagship product, "Suzak," is a chair that looks something like a piece of sports equipment mixed with, well, a piece of camping equipment. The chair form consists of a spandex-like fabric stretched across a curved steel frame, held in place by a single crossbar and a pair of heavy-duty shock cords. Check out the pitch:
At $135 for the medium (based on the video, the large looks huge), the "Suzak" hits a pricepoint that's somewhere between dorm room and bachelor pad; easy maintenance doesn't hurt either. It's elegant flat-packability is also a nice touch, though I wonder how durable the frame is, especially since some users will likely see it more like a trampoline than a chair.
The "Bufa" Chair (below), on the other hand, was inspired "by dress and sewing details: puffs and pleats." The excess felt of the seating surface is crimped into the curvature—the armpit, if you will—of the chair... or at least it is intended to resemble an accordion-like fold.
Designed by MOWO Studio of Wroclaw, Poland, the "Bufa is an attempt to find a pattern for furniture, search for a new solution that would replace traditional upholstery." Of course, at 831€—a sum that would get you eight Suzaks—it might be cheaper to reupholster that old armchair after all...
Comments
Thanks Ray for the the spot on the Suzak, just wanted to talk about the durability concerns you have. As you say the SUZAK is not intented for jumping up and down (dont think any chair is designt for this) but in normal use the SUZAK will last years. I have 3 chairs (some mid and late prototypes) that are still working very well and have passed some extreme test for a chair.