The Bum Chair

The design for the Bum Chair took a little while longer to pin down than it did for the stool. We wanted it to be a clear companion piece, focusing on comfort above all else, so it had to use the same naturally shaped seat pan. You may have already noticed that the shape of the chair pan is actually quite different to the stool and this is because your natural sitting posture changes considerably once both of your feet are flat on the floor and you have a backrest to lean into. We made sure to recreate these conditions when we we're building our prototypes out of scraps and off-cuts in the workshops. Once we'd managed to get the height and angles right, we popped a slab of wet clay on top and took it in turns to get comfortable, sculpting here and there to soften any particularly noticeable niggles.

We also added a little shelf to the back of the pan for the legs to slot into. These legs extend up above the seat to form the backrest. We knew that the backrest needed to be really simple so that it wasn't at odds with the curvy seat pan so we opted for a traditional bar back design. The tall scallops at the top of the back legs are such a great finishing touch; they help to soften the corners so that there's nothing digging into your shoulders but they also mirror the scalloped legs on the Bum Stool really nicely. Overall, this comfortable little chair is great for if you have a big family or if you're often entertaining a full house and need to squeeze as many people around the table as possible. We still can't decide which is more comfortable to sit in, the Bum Stool or the Chair?