Erik De Nijs and Tim Smit — who are Nieuwe Heren — presented a few new pieces at Dutch Design Week 2010 in Eindhoven, one of which was a series of folding chairs designed for reading called The Poets.
From the designer:
The Poets
Emerged from the idea of really taking time to read
your children a bedtime story.A foldable chair with the perfect reading light.
no matter the environment.done reading? just store it against the wall,
and you’ll have some extra light.W. Blake is the green chair with the light on the right side, just like the right handed poet William Blake. The white chair is called J.W. Goethe with the light on the left side, just like the left handed poet.
Moniek on 12.17.2010 at 14:41 PM
Wauw, beautiful chair. This is an example of out of the box design
Freek on 12.20.2010 at 07:02 AM
This is a project of a design studio called Nieuwe Heren. Tim smit and Erik De Nijs are the founders of this studio they both designed this concept. check their website http://www.nieuweheren.com
Vinay on 10.14.2011 at 14:02 PM
Nice. What material is it made of? Wood?
test on 10.14.2011 at 15:34 PM
christ on a rocking horse..
..feed the damn cable through the *rear* support (i.e. where you *don’t* either trip over, stand on, or get your foot caught it in continually every time you move) already.
Sorry, but that it is not only unnecessarily impractical design in the current form, it is positively dangerous, especially at a cable entrance height perfect for forming a convenient cable loop to catch a foot in. I appreciate the design (as it stands) means you would then need to feed the cable through to the other leg or similar; however, that, at present, it is just wrong, sorry.
Apart from that ;-) I rather liked it, honestly..
Laura on 10.17.2011 at 16:15 PM
Great example of delusional design! First, it looks lopsided and likely to tip over with the slightest encouragement, but even if it defies appearances and is stable, who wants to sit in a chair like that to read?
Folding chairs are temporary seating for special occasions like weddings and PTA meetings. They’re not for sitting in for hours while reading. They’re uncomfortable. The implication that you’d read to your kids in such a chair is even dopier. Have you ever actually read to kids, any kids? You do it while sitting next to them, so they can look at the book while you’re doing it, because they like the pictures and because it helps them learn to read. Sofas and beds is where most people read to kids for just this reason.
There’s no problem this design solves. It’s really quite easy to pull over a floor lamp if there’s not enough light by your favorite chair. I have a clip-on lamp by mine, which is a very comfortable armchair that a real human being sits in for hours each day, actually reading.
Here’s hoping that whoever made this thing will try to be less silly.