Site icon Dezeen
1 of 1

Cradle by Benjamin Hubert for Moroso

Product news: British designer Benjamin Hubert has created a chair with a hammock-like back for Italian furniture brand Moroso.

Called Cradle, the design is a cross between an upholstered lounge chair and a flexible hammock.

The steel frame of the hammock supports a textile mesh, which has been CNC-cut to allow it to stretch around the sitter's shape.

"The chair's aesthetic is purposefully architectural with a sharp rectilinear backrest contrasted with a softer seating area," explains Hubert.

The chair was launched in Milan last month alongside another of chair by Hubert for Moroso, which looks as if it's wrapped in a cloak – see all Dezeen's coverage of Milan 2013.

Other designs by Hubert we've featured lately include a metal frame armchair that weighs only three kilograms and a family of terracotta pots with rubber lids – see all design by Benjamin Hubert.

Other Moroso furniture we've published includes Patricia Urquiola's chairs with backrests wrapped in rush and Nendo's chair shaped like a stiletto heel – see all furniture by Moroso.

Here's some more information from the designer:


Cradle is a new lounge chair launching at Salone Internazionale del Mobile in April 2013. The project is the result of a close collaboration between Benjamin Hubert and Italian brand Moroso.

The product is a unique blend of two typologies of seating – a net structured hammock and a conventional upholstered lounge chair. The chair's aesthetic is purposefully architectural with a sharp rectilinear backrest contrasted with a softer seating area, breaking traditional rules of seating typology and styling.

Talma chair (left), Net tables and Cradle chair, all by Benjamin Hubert for Moroso

The chair stems from the studio's materials-driven, process-led industrial design approach, research into the construction of mesh materials, and a study of the relationships between traditional seating components.

Cradle utilises a custom-made cut pattern that allows a non-elastic textile to stretch in a controlled manner in a three dimensional form. This allows for the correct tension to comfortably support the body and both visually and physically reduces the product's weight and cost.

Prototype design

The chair comprises a metal frame supporting a non-elastic textile with a geometric cut pattern, which cradles an upholstered seat block.

Materials: CNC-cut Kvadrat textile mesh, steel frame, moulded polyurethane, Kvadrat textile

Exit mobile version