Chairs tend to be designed without any emotion, but the Flipside Chair from designer Izzi Hays aims to provide seating geared toward two of the most extreme emotions on the spectrum: despair and excitement. After studying the postures in which people sit while experiencing those emotions, Hays created a chair that has design features to support both (depending on its orientation.)
The Flipside Chair's despair side has a dramatically curved backrest that forces the seated person to lean forward with their elbows on their knees and their head in their hands — a posture that immediately signifies dread. However, by flipping the chair over (as its name encourages,) there is a totally new seating style. In this orientation, the backrest pushes people toward the edge of the seat, and footrests act like sprinters' blocks to help them jump up at a moment's notice; this is the excitement posture.
Emotional Chair Designs
The Flipside Chair Offers Positions for Dread and Excitement
Trend Themes
1. Emotional Seating - Designing seating solutions that cater to specific emotions is a disruptive innovation opportunity for furniture makers.
2. Multi-functional Furniture - Creating furniture with reversible or multi-functional designs that cater to different moods or situations is a disruptive innovation opportunity for furniture makers.
3. Ergonomic Design - Developing ergonomic seating options using research-based insights on human emotions and postures is a disruptive innovation opportunity for furniture makers.
Industry Implications
1. Furniture - Furniture makers can leverage emotional design thinking to unlock new market segments and increase customer appeal.
2. Home Decor - Home decor companies can integrate emotionally designed furniture into their product lines to add unique value and differentiation.
3. Office Furniture - Office furniture makers can create ergonomically designed seating solutions that cater to employees' emotional and physical well-being for improved productivity and satisfaction.