With an ambition to create an honest, long-lasting design with a low climate footprint, the Ark Chair collection was born. Discover how responsibility was at the forefront of the design process from the very beginning.
Behind the Design: Ark Chairs
Designing an Archetypal Chair
Initially inspired by a wish to bring a simple and honest design to the forefront, our in-house Design team decided that they wanted to create a collection of responsible, versatile and beautiful wooden chairs for the entire family to enjoy.
The team began the design process by conceptualising the idea of a chair: “We asked ourselves what it would look like if we asked someone, a child or an adult, to simply draw a chair,” says Estelle from the design team, who worked on the development of Ark. From this question, the Design team was left with the dimensions of an archetypal chair; four legs and a simple seat and backrest. The idea of creating a geometrical design with straight, simple lines also corresponded with the ambition to produce a chair with as little waste as possible.
To achieve this goal, the Design team reached out to the Danish company Målbar, who specialise in measuring the CO2e footprint of products using their climate screening tool. This helped to ensure that the entire process of creating the chairs, from the raw materials to the final product, is responsible and with a sustainable mindset.
With this objective in mind, the team decided to create three different Ark Chairs – a Dining Chair, a Kids Chair and High Chair – all made from FSC™-certified ash planks with standard measurements, taking into account sustainability within a number of parameters.
Working with standard measurements ensures that the production of each chair results in as little waste as possible. Simply working with wooden planks also allows the chairs to be assembled using only 6-8 standard screws, avoiding any types of glue. This also presented the opportunity to flat pack the chairs, meaning that each one arrives to the customer disassembled, ensuring a leaner, more space-effective shipping and transportation process. The Design team also saw an advantage in that the flat-packed design enables customers to not only easily assemble, but also disassemble, the chairs at any given point.
When the shape and material of the Ark Chairs were finalised, the Design team went on to play with colour and final expression. They decided to create two versions of each chair; a raw, oiled one with a simple and timeless expression, as well as a contemporary blue that will provide any home with an understated yet intriguing addition of colour.
The idea of creating a geometrical design with straight, simple lines also corresponded with the ambition to produce a chair with as little waste as possible.
Behind the Responsible Production of the Ark Collection
The Ark Dining, Kids and High Chairs are all produced within the EU, at a factory located close to Venice in Northern Italy.
At the factory, the standard FSC™-certified wooden planks are inserted into a machine that specialises in cutting wood to exact measurements, limiting waste. Once the wooden planks have been cut to size, they are divided into categories, depending on which chair they are destined to become.
The pieces that will make the raw, oiled Ark Chairs are treated by hand by one of the craftsmen working at the factory, while the pieces for the blue Ark Chairs are painted at a factory nearby who specialise in using water-based paints that are suitable children’s furniture.
Before the finished components of the chair is flat-packed and sent to us in Denmark, each individual element is quality checked by a craftsman, ensuring that our customers only receive pieces of the highest quality.
Readable and Responsible Design
When creating the Ark Chairs, both the design and production process was largely impacted by the conscious, informed choices made to actively limit waste and lengthen the lifespan of the design. Working with Målbar and their product climate screening tool already in the developmental phase, we were able to create a collection of not only decorative, but also responsible, timeless and beautiful chairs that can be used throughout the home, from the children’s room to the dining room.