FURNITURE DESIGN

Half Chair

A chair as an ergonomic sitting device was designed and named 'Half Chair' for its size. When the seat and the backrest are half of the ordinary size, its sitter is not able to wrench her/his own back and continually damage it between them, which is what people do daily in chairs.

This chair is comfortable enough for its sitter to stay on its seat for a while, but she/he soon after would begin searching for more comfortable positions that cannot be found on this chair. Eventually the sitter leaves the chair, which is exactly what this chair was designed to do, for its sitter's sake. 

Some people may disregard the virtue of the constraints this chair secretly imposes because the design betrays expectations that people have for comfortable sitting. As long as its user stays on it, however, this chair keeps her/him from harmful sitting postures. The photo of a girl who plays a cello on a Half Chair below demonstrates an advantage with this ergonomic measure.

• Ash, Oak, Walnut solid wood

• 490 X 340 X 700 mm

• IFDA awards, 2011, Gold Leaf Prize

• www.wow.jpn.com/en/halfchair/