TA001 Dream chair

The Dream Chair is the culmination of a close, multi-year collaboration between Japanese star architect Tadao Ando and Carl Hansen & Son. Together, they have created a lounge chair that embodies Tadao Ando's desire to encourage people to take more time to dream.

A tribute to Hans J. Wegner, the Dream Chair seeks to express the same harmonious, minimalist expression typical of Wegner's design. Tadao Ando explains: “I have been an admirer of Wegner's craftsmanship for many years. This collaboration with Carl Hansen & Son made it possible for me to create a piece of furniture from the ground up with the help of a team of skilled professionals. This was new to me, as in the past I have been used to only selecting furniture for the buildings I have created over the years.” Like Wegner, Tadao Ando is interested in exploring materials' possibilities and pushing the boundaries of what is structurally possible.

“Tadao Ando was given free rein for this project. We did not in any way want to limit this creator's freedom to produce something great and different. The result speaks for itself. This is the work of a master. Together we have challenged – and possibly reached – the limits of what is possible to achieve with plywood. Tadao Ando has succeeded in producing a unique chair that visually and technically challenges our perception of a lounge chair,” says Knud Erik Hansen, CEO of Carl Hansen & Son.

The Dream Chair's almost floating expression naturally attracts attention. A sculptural work of art in itself, the chair is particularly well suited for larger rooms where it can be seen and enjoyed from all angles. The Dream Chair is, of course, also a comfortable furniture piece that invites relaxed reflection. Tadao Ando adds: “For the development of the Dream Chair, I followed an approach similar to the one I use in architec- ture. I often use concrete as the only material in order to create unique rooms. In the same way, I only used one material – plywood – for the Dream Chair to define the chair's space.”

Tadao Ando believes that a product should be made from a single material, and should be pure, without any environmental impact. He has also succeeded in satisfying his strict requirements for the Dream Chair’s production.
The chair is made of three-dimensional plywood, which has special characteristics that allow it to be curved along two axles during the molding process. Tadao Ando and the cabinetmakers at Carl Hansen & Son pushed the size and curvature of the plywood sheet in order to achieve the necessary characteristics of a chair, attaining a result beyond what was thought to be possible when working with three-dimensional plywood.