Magis’ Bell chair is a design masterpiece that captivates with its form, feel, and functionality. Konstantin Grcic wanted to create a chair that everyone could afford – while being produced as ecologically as possible.
AT FIRST GLANCE, the Bell chair from Magis may look like a typical plastic garden chair, although a very comfortable one. However, the chair surprises its sitters: the Bell is indeed made of polypropylene, but the whole project has been carried out in an extremely ecological way, from start to finish, using only a minimal amount of resources.
The goal of the Bell project was to create a high-quality but affordable design chair using as little material and energy as possible.
The designer Konstantin Grcic himself admits that he was critical at the beginning. “But the more I got into it, the more I could see a great opportunity for our project.”
“There is a need for chairs that are both affordable and versatile, but the products on the market tend to be either cheap or too exclusive,” the designer says.
The material and technology used were chosen with this in mind: with plastic injection molding, it was possible to keep the price reasonable without compromising on the design or functionality.
However, the aim was not to create another single-use plastic chair on the market, so special attention was paid to the type of material used. “The big breakthrough came with the commitment from our supplier to provide us with a high-quality recycled material,” Grcic explains the process.
That plastic is obtained from industrial waste. Some come from a local car factory, and some from Magis' own furniture production – so the chairs become chairs again.
The result is Bell: a soft-shaped chair that uses only 2.7 kilograms of plastic, almost half the weight of an average chair. Because the material use is minimal, producing the chair also uses less energy.
Despite its light weight, the Bell chair is extremely durable. It is possible to stack up to 24 chairs on top of each other, making it easier to store chairs at home or in public spaces and reducing the carbon footprint of its packaging and logistics.
And to close the circle, the Bell chair can be 100% recycled again, if it ever comes to the end of its life.
See also:
• Magis' Bell chair >
• All products by Magis >
Text: Susa Pääkkönen Images: Magis