Leames Chair

formerly known as the Louffice Chair

(​project still in progress)

This chair design combines a lounge chair with an office chair. The criteria with which we distinguish an office chair from a lounge chair is both an aesthetic one and a functional one. But I often find myself trying to use these types together.

When working on my computer, a zone typically associated with an office chair, I often find myself leaning back with my feat resting on the desktop tower and with the chair pulled way into the desk. I may often spend over 12 hours a day in this position depending on the type and amount of work I am undertaking. When utilizing my workstation in this fashion, the utility of the chair begins to look less like a conventional office chair and more like a lounge chair. The evolution of office chairs themselves are becoming more and more defined by comfort as the contemporary workplace is dominated long hours spent at computer workstations. Tablet displays, tools growing in popularity for designers and artists, even hint at this work-lounge trend. The industry leader, Wacom, offers a tablet mounting system which allows the tablet to extend into a lap area position – favoring ergonomics and comfort over conventional table-top configurations.

The aesthetic of the chair is a play on the Eames Lounge Chair. As it will be my chair for work and for lounging – it will essentially be my designer's throne. This chair is being developed in a time in my life when I am concluding formal academic endeavors and embarking on a professional career. I can think of no other people more appropriate to pay homage to, than Charles and Ray Eames. Pioneers of bent plywood furniture, their lounge chair featured materials of the time. This design features heat molded acrylic. It has a seat very similar to the Eames lounge, but the back and head rest are dramatically different. Suited to my seated posture, the chair supports the lower back and allows the shoulder blades to rest deeper into the back test. The top piece hints and free shoulder and arm movement. The curve in this piece then inverts to cradle the neck and lower part of the head. Upholstery is then added for comfort and reinforces the Eames-esque aesthetic. Re-purposed components for an office chair allow for adjust-ability for greater lounging position. This is a lounge chair for working.

It was always my dream to own an Eames Lounge Chair, but at a price tag of around 4K. Building my own chair with subtle similarities and distinct contemporary changes is priceless.

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acrylic model, 1/2" = 1'

photos by Jason Galligan-Baldwin