The London design duo's latest creation is inspired by the ubiquitous post war school chair. The chair is lightweight and stackable, with a steel frame and beech plywood seat and back. The Canteen Chair is practical and beautiful — the perfect combination.
André Klauser and Ed Carpenter both studied at the Royal College of Art and their design philosophy is ‘When we design we pare everything right down. We aim for an economy of means with our products".
It is available (in the UK) in 6 colors from TwentyTwentyOne for £215.
Images: TwentyTwentyOne
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Because the world needs more overpriced plywood stacking chairs.
"When we design we pare everything right down. We aim for an economy of means with our products"
That's one hell of a line for a $335 (US) chair.
TMoore, that was exactly what I was thinking. I read "We aim for an economy of means" and thought, cool, designers who try to make simple, good design accessible. Wrong!
But, if you're loaded, don't worry - you don't have to dirty yourself with any of that 'authentic' industrial chic stuff. Grungy style in a chair is just the average person's weekly paycheck away!
grungy style? are we looking at the same chair? this is very simple, refined and playful. looks like a very nice chair and based on all the other chairs they sell, looks to be a well-made piece. and does the average person really only make $335 a week? where?
I was not implying that the chair was unattractive or poorly made, just that it isn't terribly exciting and is produced fairly easily with a minimal amount of inexpensive materials. The designer himself boasts the efficiency of his designs. And it will cost you over three hundred dollars. For one.
And don't worry, twelve, we make more than $335 a week here in Kalamazoo. A Whopping $599!
Exactly how much exposed thong is tasteful?
Buying a chair to cover your exposed thong is like buying a house to cover your naked body. If one is having problems with an exposed thong, one might consider their pants choice prior to investing in new chairs.
Twelve, by 'grungy' I meant industrial, basic, spartan. Not cheap or crappy.
To be honest I don't know whether that figure was accurate; here in Australia I would guess the average would be about AU$500-$800 net, and the cost of living in the US seems to be about half of what it is here so I applied that to the wage as well. Maybe it's off. But the fact remains that $335 for a chair whose designer boasts of its "economy of means", even if it is a nice chair, is outrageous. It also seems deeply hypocritical and cynical for the designer to say that.