Bly Studio: The stool
Denmark’s next Classic 2022
Challenge no. 2
In the second episode of Denmark’s next Classic, the 5 designers have to design and create a stool. The criteria is to use as little material as possible, and at the same time make a seating that is comfortable enough to sit during a three course dinner.
Episode 2
January 11th
Category: Stool
The idea
Eva and Anne are inspired by the classic Monobloc chair, which is the white plastic garden chair, we all know. This piece of simple furniture is both loved and hated because while it is not very pretty, it is perfected in regards to material use, form, durability, function and price. It can be found all over the world, it can be effectively stacked and is easy to clean. Anne and Eva are especially inspired by the optimization of the amount of material used in the production process of injection molding. They want to combine this quality with an aesthetic expression that will make people want to use the stool in their living or dining room.
The result
For the first time Bly Studio is going to design a furniture piece in plastic. They chose this much debated material because of how it can be molded among other things. Injection molding is a production process where the material is injected into a mold. This way, the material waste during production becomes very small which by other forms of production can become quite significant.
Since the designers do not have time to build a mold for their design, they are forced to use a prototyping process in plastic powder in stead of their intended material which is either recycled PP or bio plastic.
Furthermore, the design allows for the legs to be detached, so that the product can be flat packed and so that a leg easily can be replaced if broken.
Eva and Anne succeed in creating a product design not seen before, and the judges were very impressed by their minimalistic, efficient and comfortable stool. So much that it wins the category and ends up on the podium. Congratulations!
Climate footprint
This simple design only consists of one single material. No screws or bolts are used to put it together, and no paint or lacquer has been applied.
The stool if made from recycled PP emits approximately 7 kilos of CO2eq, which is quite low for a quality piece of furniture.
If the stool is produced in a bioplastic called bio polyethylene which is made from sugar canes, it actually has the same footprint. And the results are including packaging and transport.
The future of the stool
Eva and Anne obviously also want to put this stool into production. But first, they want to figure out exactly what is the best plastic material for this product in terms of durability, recyclability and climate impact, and plastics truly are a jungle of many materials, some not very transparent.
They also want to have it made in more colors and they will look for the right manufacturer to put it into production.
Results
These two graphics illustrate how the CO2eq emissions are distributed between the included elements of the two versions of stool (one in recycled PP and one in bioplastic) and what the impact corresponds to in everyday activities.
A young design duo
Bly Studio is founded by two young female designers, Eva Fly and Anne Brandhøj. With a common background as furniture designers from The Royal Academy of Design in Copenhagen, Eva and Anne work with furniture design with a strong sense of functionality and they always strive to create memorable visual expressions. The studio focuses on designing high quality furniture for both the contract and retail market.