Flip Chaise Transformable by Niko Kapa is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 A' Design Award de Fer in Design de Mobilier Competition Category.

FerMobilier· 2025

Flip Chaise Transformable

by Niko Kapa

Client: Snk

A' Design Award de Fer Winner in Mobilier Category

12,116

Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #166217

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Colors

The Design

About Flip Chaise Transformable

Ayant pour principe la sobriété matérielle et la pureté de la forme, la qualité du design repose sur des plis et des lignes géométriques qui créent une interconnexion de différentes parties au service de la fonction. Le design permet à la chaise de s'adapter à différents contextes et de répondre aux humeurs et besoins de l'utilisateur, car elle peut être transformée simplement en la retournant. Rien n'est superflu et les éléments distincts collaborent pour créer une structure légère mais extrêmement rigide.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Fer

Flip Chaise Transformable est lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Fer, une reconnaissance prestigieuse décernée à de bons designs qui répondent aux exigences professionnelles et industrielles attendues de créations bien conçues. Les lauréats Fer démontrent la grande compétence, la haute spécialisation, la compréhension experte et la capacité créative de leurs créateurs. Flip Chaise Transformable est censé être une création très estimée, admirée et chérie, pratique et innovante. Ce design lauréat de l'A' Design Award de Fer intègre les meilleures pratiques de l'industrie et présente des caractéristiques techniques compétentes associées à un savoir-faire et à du talent. Flip Chaise Transformable est respecté pour sa rigueur et est conçu pour apporter des améliorations de la qualité de vie qui contribuent à faire du monde un monde meilleur.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: Flexibility and transformation are the fundamental ideas behind this design. The design allows the chair to migrate between different settings and respond to moods and needs of the user, since it can be transformed just by flipping it. This results to different seating postures and designs as per the needs of the user. Besides the alteration, this gives the product a visual consolidation, emphasizing the reduction of materials and unification of forms.
Dimensions & Packaging: Structural stability is attained by the overlapping plywood strips that curve into one another and are glued on connection points. These provide the necessary flexibility that thin layers of plywood offer as a construction material, together with the cushions attached to them. Plywood sheets are spray painted and varnished on all sides. Besides the natural beech wood finish, they come in black and white colored types.
Tags: Transformable, flexible, fluid, plywood, sustainable
Production Technology: The manufacturing process used for the plywood is steam bending which is a low energy, low waste process using no toxic glues, just water. The process of steaming the wood also seasons it at the same as it is bent, using a fraction of the energy required in conventional kiln drying. Having in mind always the use of low environmental impact solutions, plywood is used with low VOC finishes and Bio Shield natural oil finishes, in order to reveal the textural qualities of wood construction.
Design Challenge: With the fluidity of seat and the linearity if strips, the design is suggestive of plant growth. In this way it expresses the spirit of the material it is made of and reveals the textural qualities of wood construction. With an intentionally clear and simple form for this furniture, adaptation to the product philosophy of Dorma Design was taken into account, in order to make this chair complementary of company’s group of furniture and suitable for mass production.
Research: The research focused on how the curve segments can be combined together taking into account physically satisfying posture as well as ergonomics. Full scale mockups were produced in order to check the weight and functionality of the furniture prior to fabrication. Cushions were tested in order to act as an extension of the main framing, having as a basic principle the minimum use of material and minimum number of construction elements.
Inspiration: When you bend a strip of plywood you get an elastic curve. What geometry does this curve follow? The interest in line and movement is expressed through a refined vocabulary, derived from the functional aspects of the design. The main structural elements are strips of plywood that fold in a specific and supplementary manner, in line with proportions of the human body so as to establish the dimensions of the chair.
Operation Flow: Exploring the value of wooden manufacture and the flexible nature of wood as a construction material, the Flip Flop chair is constructed of a series of plywood elements. Fluid linear forms establish a visual rhythm through the graphic lines of the design. This analytical construction logic with curves and crisp lines defines a characteristic profile with a light and elegant effect.
Image Credits: Studio Niko Kapa