A light touch: Arper

Sitting under the sustainability spotlight it has turned on itself, Arper is duty-bound to make its new releases work hard for their place in the world. And the two latest launches don’t disappoint in their endeavours to touch the ground lightly.

Kata, by Arper’s close collaborators, Barcelona-based Altherr Désile Park, carries the silhouette of a modernist lounge chair. The wood-framed chair, however, is very much an exercise in making furniture that we desire aesthetically with minimal environmental impact.

It is made from FSC certified oak and black locust – both durable hardwoods treated with water-based varnish – and a custom-knit textile made from post-consumer plastic that has been converted into a hard-wearing, lightweight fabric. This new-gen polyester wages war on waste; it turns 1 kg of PET waste into 1 kg of yarn, using considerably less energy than the making of virgin polyester, and is 3D knitted to fit the chair frame.

The Mixu chair and stool, designed in collaboration with Gensler, meanwhile, makes itself useful by virtue of the myriad customisable forms it can take. The seat, backrest and base colours and textures can be mixed, so that its visual impact can be tailored precisely and uniquely to needs. Seat options are available in post-industrial recycled plastic, FSC certified wood, fabric, or leather finishes and can be combined with backrest options in a plastic, fabric, or leather and four-leg bases in either metal or FSC certified wood.

The ease with which the parts disassemble and reassemble means it travels in an energy-efficient way and just like Kata, it can be laid to rest in a responsible way at the end of its life. One day, when all this is a given, we shall return simply to talking about how handsome and functional the designs are, but for now, the news is that these chairs are not only good-lookers, they are responsible too.

© Architonic