This super smart chair design from Cate & Nelson was one of the most clever ideas we found at ICFF this year. The Oz Lowchair, by designers Nelson Ruiz-Acal and Cate Högdahl, is an exercise in design versatility. Multiple layers of felt fill the chair and can be flipped like the pages of a book to create a new color combination. Mixed or monotone, the felt ‘flips’ allow the user to adjust the cheerful assortment of colorful fabric to fit a multitude of moods.

We love how the OZ Lowchair is a modern day design chameleon. The mix of clean lines balanced with a playful palate of brightly colored felt was a refreshing find at ICFF. The versatile, yet simple, concept behind this design definitely made it stand out among the ever-crowded chair category and beyond. We were also impressed how Cate & Nelson took a relatively raw natural material and gave it such sophisticated form.

Cate & Nelson works under a design philosophy that seeks to “improve our existence through innovative, functional ideas and bold thinking.” The OZ Lowchair embodies this intent, and was one of the most memorable discoveries from ICFF this year.

+ Cate & Nelson + ICFF 2008: Inhabitat Reports. + ICFF 2008: Highlights from NY Design Week