Cardiff Design Festival

Brief

In 2008 Orangebox embarked on a new project to design a universal high density stacking chair that could stack 40 high for use in meeting rooms, conference halls, auditoriums as well as general office applications. This market has long been dominated by a single product originally designed in the 1960’s with very few changes to the present day. With Orangebox’s recent tabling launch it was more important than ever to come to market with a fresh new product that could not only compliment our new tables but that could be a credible Orangebox alternative to a hugely successful product in this market. With an investment budget of £100k this was the largest non-task-chair project to come from Orangebox.

Result

Since it’s launch in 2010 Cors has sold in excess of 8000 chairs making it one of Orangebox’s most successful product launches. Due to it’s success we are now extending the range to include an armchair, upholstered back version as well as an optional writing tablet for training room environments.

Solution

During the Design phase it was paramount to keep the chair visually as simple as possible. There are many chairs competing in this sector of the market and so Cors had to stand out from the crowd. We did this by producing a strikingly simple and elegant chair that belies the complexity of the manufacturing process. To achieve a visually uncluttered aesthetic for the chair as well as minimising the use of fasteners, the back of the chair is moulded over the steel frame - thus eliminating unsightly screws that would normally be visible. The back is also unique in it’s perforated design, something not normally seen in this archetypal product. To achieve this we specified an incredibly durable polymer that is not only tough enough to cope with the demanding environments these chairs find themselves in, but one that is also incredibly easy to recycle over and over again with little or no loss in structural characteristics – something that is not common in recycled plastics. As Cors is designed to stack efficiently, we ship them this way too. We’ve designed a box that two people can carry easily that contains 6 chairs. The boxes are made from a thick cardboard to take the weight, and is so good that we want them back so that we can use them again, and again, and again.

Project website

http://www.orangebox.com