Colorful Chair Made of 65,000 Rubber Bands Turns Heads at ICFF

Young design student <a href="http://inhabitat.com/inhabitat-reports-from-icff-2011/rubber-band-chair/?extend=1" target="_blank">Preston Moeller</a> turned a lot of heads at <a href="http://inhabitat.com/icff" target="_blank">ICFF</a> during <a href="http://inhabitat.com/new-york-design-week/" target="_blank">New York Design Week</a> with his colorful rubber band chair. Made from a whopping 65,000 <a href="http://inhabitat.com/architect-recycles-rubber-bands-into-bauhaus-inspired-dress/" target="_blank">rubber bands</a>, the springy seat was part of the <a href="http://www.idsa.org/" target="_blank">Industrial Designers Society of America</a>’s booth this year, and also earned Moeller the $3,000 first prize in the Appalachian State University’s 6th Annual Chair Design Competition.

This year’s competition was themed “Sitting on the Edge,” and encouraged students to use nontraditional materials, as well disregarding preconceived notions of <a href="http://inhabitat.com/abc123-chair-is-made-entirely-from-building-blocks/" target="_blank">chair design</a>, a.k.a.- pushing them to think outside the box.

Moeller’s rainbow chair accomplished this task with flying colors, using common pipe and steel as the base, and the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/rubber-band-lamps-by-orchard-studio/" target="_blank">rubber bands</a> as fabric.

Using a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/flat-pack-chairs-are-assembled-with-rubber-bands/" target="_blank">rubber band</a> ball as inspiration, Moeller’s chair incorporated the criss cross aesthetics of the ball in the chair design.

The 65,000 rubber bands make the chair seem as if it is made totally of rubber, with the support pipes almost being the designer’s secret. The result is a <a href="http://inhabitat.com/brc-designs-unveils-amazing-piano-key-chair-at-icff/" target="_blank">quirky chair</a>, that is part cartoon, part fun house, with an element of traditional craft aesthetic.

Color and quirk aside, the springy <a href="http://inhabitat.com/vibrazionis-recycled-oil-barrel-furniture-comments-on-the-oil-crisis/" target="_blank">chair</a> is also incredibly comfortable, with each <a href="http://inhabitat.com/elastic-co/" target="_blank">rubber band</a> form fitting and cradling the user’s body with support.

Moeller’s chair fully utilizes his nontraditional material- using a rubber band’s stretch for a new purpose- to create comfort.