Dunja Weber: Stacking Soba
By Jenny Rector on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009
Soba Chair. Designed by Dunja Weber.
I’ll admit to having developed a fascination with the stacking chair. It is, in itself, a design challenge. A fairly standard item for some time, it has the potential to be redeveloped into something (much) better. Through rethinking its function and offering a fresh interpretation of this common object, the stacking chair can become something all-together new. Young designer Dunja Weber’s most recent project Soba, which debuted at Milan’s Salone, has successfully accomplished this feat.
Soba more closely resembles a comfortable armchair than a traditional stacking chair, having diverged from the temporal, uncomfortable appearance ever-present in most stacking chairs. It is not to be stashed away when the need for additional seating is removed. The form brings to mind Patricia Urquiola’s Tropicalia chair, though the materiality and function differ. Powder coated metal rods create the frame while woven PVC spaghetti makes up the seat and backrest. The patterned aesthetic of Soba’s woven seat is a composition of solid and void; allowing the chair to feel simultaneously substantial and light. The designer works well with color, evident in the neutral but complimentary tones of the chair.
Dunja Weber is a young industrial designer, born in Switzerland into a family of artists and educated at Glasgow School of Art. In an interview with Azure Magazine, Dunja explains, “It’s an aesthetic decision, but things tend to be stronger when they’re simple – they stay in your mind better. Sometimes people don’t realize how much work goes into it; nevertheless I think it’s worth going in that direction.” Some of her other designs include Fancy Fency, a flexible room-divider, Shoo: a modular shoe rack and Hulahoops, a set of stacking glasses. She says that she aspire to designs objects and furniture that are simple without being boring.
My fascination with the stacking chair has been manifested through 3Rings. Jang Yoon addressed this challenge with his prototype of the Janus chair, serving double duty as a stacking chair and folding chair (at least partly). Though I generally don’t choose favorites (at least outright), Dunja Weber’s Soba chair is hard to beat. Soba is a stacking chair worthy of a prominent place within any home.
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Hello Dave,
I agree that Soba could easily be transformed in a simple stacking chair without armrests - in fact I’m working on this right now. However I wouldn’t say that the armrests are unnecessary - if you had the opportunity to actually try the chair you would notice that they do add quite a lot to the comfort of the chair even though they are very minimal as armrests.
Thanks for your comment Dave!
I would argue that the “armrests” however minimal they are, make the chair feel more substantial, giving you something to lean against. The seat becomes something you sit IN rather than ON.
Dunja, great to hear your thoughts. It is always nice to hear what the designer thinks firsthand. I look forward to seeing the second version currently in development!
I see a beautiful stacking chair without the side pieces. I realise that they are an integral part of the structure at present but that could be changed.
I imagine sitting in one i could use the side woven PVC to hold a morning paper but i question whether you would use the arm rests? Therefore for me it makes the side pieces a pure aesthetic + therefore unnecessary.
It reminds me of some mid Twentieth Century spider chairs by a French designer. I forget his name (sorry).