Stuck Chair by Oato

Oato is a new design studio that was started in 2012 by of Stefan Tervoort and Pim Snijdoot. They are based in Hoorn, just north of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Both Stefan and Pim are graduates in product design of the Utrecht School of Arts. At present, they have two designs in their official web-portfolio, the Reeds tables and the Stuck Chair.

The Stuck Chair can be thought of as being a deconstruction, or perhaps reconstruction, of the chair concept. Their goal with this particular chair design was to deconstruct the elements of a chair and put it back together in simple and natural way. They have succeeded by interlocking the elements in a self-supporting structure. The Stuck Chair is slightly wider than an average chair, which is due to both the interlocking of elements as well as a design choice. Most of the chair is made of oak, but the back-rest is a steel tube that is swept across the back of the chair, relatively high. This implies that the Stuck Chair may be suitable for transient seating such as meeting rooms and dining rooms, but as it is lacking lower back support it is not suitable as a general office chair.

The Stuck Chair looks good but is not particularly ergonomic as it also lacks arm rests. As a designer chair, it is available in a standard range of colours such as white, black, grey, red or turquoise, but you can get  any colour of your choice at extra cost. It’s only the back-rest that is coloured, the rest of the chair is natural oak wood grain.
The Stuck chair got an Honourable Mention for its innovative use of materials and attention to details at the ARC12 Chair design contest in Utrecht.
Humans and chairs have a long history, perhaps three millennia. The earliest known chairs were found in Egyptian tombs. It is believed that the Egyptians made their chairs to represent natural forms to prevent chaos in the universe. Still, the only way to make up your mind about a chair is to sit on it. The proof is in the sitting.