This Hiroi Chair was designed by Sam Hecht and Kim Colin, a/k/a Industrial Facility. Featuring exposed fasteners and clearly being made out of stock materials, its humble aesthetic may surprise those who know the duo's work; however, this was designed specifically for Ishinomaki Lab.

To explain, Ishinomaki Lab is a volunteer design collective formed in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. Their mission was disaster relief from a furniture design perspective: They held workshops for residents where they taught them how to build basic furniture out of commonly available tools and stock materials"

"A balanced chair that respects raw material dimensions. Wider than it is deep, the solid design keeps the centre of gravity closer to the front than the back, ensuring stability. An elegant single-radius steel tube provides back support while hinting at the rounded form of the human body. It has been created with small spaces in mind, ideal for nestling under a counter."

Surprisingly, this DIY furniture aesthetic caught on, and the organization continues teaching workshops to this day. In order to generate funding, they ask established designers to design pieces that the organization sells; however, attendees of the workshops can learn to build the pieces for free. It is a clever form of wealth redistribution, where moneyed patrons can purchase prestige furniture, and the proceeds then go towards teaching those with less means to build the same pieces for themselves.

The version of the Hiroi Chair sold in Japan is made of local Noto Cypress; the UK version, Douglas Fir.