Promotion: Kiwi design studio Formway has reimagined the traditional dining room set-up for its own furniture brand Noho, creating a collection of tables and chairs that are conducive to other activities besides dining.
Noho's repertoire consists of three pieces – the newly launched Dine table range, the Noho Move chair and the Lightly chair, which was crowned furniture design of the year at the 2023 Dezeen Awards.
The designs makes use of reclaimed and biobased materials including discarded carpets, recycled fishing nets and castor-bean bioplastic, while drawing on Formway's experience in designing office furniture.
What the company had learnt about comfort and durability from making office furniture was applied to residential furniture. It also referenced "hundreds of hours of observational footage of people in their homes" that provided insight into how people use their furniture in realistic day-to-day scenarios.
Based on the findings that the modern dining room often becomes an informal space for doing remote work, homework, arts and crafts, Formway designed the Noho Move chair as "the world's first ergonomically designed dining chair".
It was designed to encourage an active seated position and enable hours of sitting, with a shell seat made of recycled nylon that flexes and moves with the user.
The collection also includes the Lightly chair, which weighs just 2.75 kilograms and was designed as an easily movable chair to facilitate various expandable seating arrangements across the home.
Its seat is made of recycled acrylonitrile styrene acrylate (ASA) plastic, while the lightweight frame was made with a bio-based nylon derived from the castor bean plant. This was originally developed for use in demanding environments like car engines.
"This renewable resource is highly C02-absorbant during its growing phase giving the material a lower carbon footprint in comparison to fossil-based alternatives – a milestone in sustainable material development for the furniture industry," Noho said.
The company's latest release is a dining table range designed to accompany the two chairs, with a tabletop made of FSC-certified timber and an endlessly recyclable aluminium frame that produces 75 per cent less carbon emissions than the industry standard, according to Noho.
Like all of the furniture maker's products, the Dine table range is produced in Wellington, New Zealand, using 82 per cent renewable energy.
For more information about Noho, visit the company's website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Noho as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.