As the latest artist to collaborate on the Art of Raw, Dutch denim brand G-STAR’s innovative platform that gives up-and-coming creatives the opportunity to turn denim into design objects, Caroline Chao proposes that we look beyond our preconceived notions and typical asks for a more exciting line of inquiry. “Why can’t furniture fold like clothing?” The Roll-Up Chair answers this question, utilizing byproducts from industrial and fashion waste streams to create a rigid metal structure, adorned with rolled denim cushions – all with the ability to collapse and hang on a wall.
New York-based designer Chao embraces the unique textural heritage of denim through the lens of furniture, while also introducing more ephemeral thoughts: How can we collectively use and subvert our powers of observation to create intelligent design?
From the small pads that create an illusion of floating just off the floor, to the reclaimed chrome that becomes the frame, the lightness of the body is all in service to contrast the heft of denim. Quilted lengths of the material join to form rolls, two gracing the horizontal bars that bisect the uninterrupted profile of the sides.
Perfectly dense, the rolls are just forgiving enough to be comfortable while also providing a surprising amount of support. Undergoing rigorous testing to find the perfect density in combination with optimal placement, the quilting process adds a fascinating texture to the rolls, fastened with three large silver buttons.
With the complex task of translating byproduct into product again, along with the interesting parameters of collapsible, hangable, and rollable, Chao investigated multiple, differing techniques to create The Roll-Up Chair. Perception and the role it plays in our lives – along with use case, audience, and assembly – were just as important as the visual appeal of the final assemblage.
The designer shares more on her ethos: “I’m trained as an architect, and I still practice. I’m very conceptual, and that’s sort of based on my background, but also my interests. I’m very interested in this idea of perception – it’s about trying to rethink everyday objects as basically something new, or, how do we rethink something that exists? This was based on some research I had done on collapsible furniture. I was getting into like camping chairs and military furniture that all have structural components that, to me, feels a bit like architectural thinking.”
Chao is no stranger to unexpected components: some off the shelf, some from the construction industry, and some reclaimed from industrial manufacturing. These materials help rethink what we would consider “new,” a sometimes ineptly used word in the design industry employed to either promote or disguise.
Instead, she chooses to bring attention to waste produced in the design process by celebrating these materials, as they already exist and are simply waiting to be used. The hero material is salvaged denim from G-STAR, and the snap fasteners that secure the rolls to the frame are the same used on their iconic jeans.
The Roll-Up Chair is a great example of architecture’s influence on product design and the research that goes into manufacturing works that properly reflect a sense of structural security and ergonomics. Here, reclaimed material works in concert with expertly rendered proportion to set the scene for similar projects in the future – not only cutting down on objects entering varied waste streams, but in changing the landscape of collapsible furniture overall.
Caroline Chao with The Roll-Up Chair
Visit g-star.com to learn more about The Roll-Up Chair by Caroline Chao as well as other Art of Raw collaborations.
Photography by Loes de Boer for G-STAR.
