Stackable: non-bulky chairs with a surprising design

29 April 2022

The projects that reconcile practicality, aesthetics and comfort, three aspects that are closer than ever, are winning projects. In fact, furniture is asked for a design that maximizes functionality, adaptability to hybrid ways of living and fluid spaces. But maximum comfort is also expected without sacrificing style, increasingly defined by refined and never banal formal details. This vision includes the new generation stackable chairs which therefore not only give the possibility of being enclosed in a small space, but when used they must be comfortable and fit with ease in a context with attention to detail.

Blueprint by Form & Refine

Organic design and reduction to the essence are the starting points for this project. Blueprint (on the cover) is an archetypal seat, made entirely of wood, whose components are reduced to a minimum. But designed according to the shapes of the human body to guarantee support and ergonomics, even though it is a stackable seat. The aesthetic is Scandinavian, as well as the combination of minimalism and a familiar touch.

Leaf by Lievore Altherr Molina for Arper

In the early 2000s, the Lievore Altherr Molina studio designed the Leaf collection for Arper. The formal inspiration is the capillary structure of the leaves that can be read very clearly in the graceful silhouette of the stackable version of the seat. Suitable for outdoor use, it also lends itself to complementing a bright interior, also thanks to the soft and reassuring color palette.

Bell by Konstantin Grcic for Magis

In addition to meeting the requirements of practicality, beauty and comfort, the Bell seat, designed in 2020 by Constantin Grcic for Magis, is also sustainable. Made with a material also suitable for outdoor use and obtained from production waste from the company itself and from the car industry, it can in turn be 100% recycled. The rounded shapes welcome and envelop the body and the backrest is one with the armrests.

Delta by Jorge Pensi for Vondom

A clear and essential graphic line defines, with a continuous line, the elements that make up the seat of the Delta collection, suitable for both indoors and outdoors. In particular, the roundness of the lower part of the backrest is appreciated as opposed to the decidedly squared upper part. A design that reveals a strong mastery of architectural form.

Panton Chair by Verner Panton for Vitra

Conceived in the 1960s, the Panton chair was one of the first stackable chair projects with a particular design. The curve that characterizes its appearance is also the key to being able to place the chairs on top of each other. Furniture with a strong personality, it is proposed by Vitra in an ever wider and up to date color range: an invitation to experiment with new and distinctive combinations.

Allez by Simon Legald for Normann Copenhagen

The visual texture is contemporary, but the lines immediately hark back to nineteenth-century coffee chairs. This seat with a French name is in fact inspired by Parisian cafes, an architectural and cultural context that the designer wanted to evoke. With an invitation to rediscover the value of meeting, with elegance.

Masters by Philippe Starck for Kartell It is Philippe Starck and Eugeni Quitllet’s tribute to three masters of Scandinavian design and in particular to three iconic seats they designed. They are the Series 7 by Arne Jacobsen, the Tulip Armchair by Eero Saarinen and the Eiffel Chair by Charles Eames whose profiles are reproduced, superimposed, in the back of this stackable chair. This perfect synthesis gives rise to a new classic, a new icon of our time which, thanks to its lightness and the wide range of colors in which it is available, is perfect both inside and out.

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