Future-focused furniture: students showcase eco-friendly designs at 22nd Chair Show

By Mar Greig

The Bachelor of Industrial Design program hosted its 22nd Chair Show in March showcasing second-year students creativity, technical skills, and dedication. The annual public exhibition and design competition celebrates students’ innovative designs and hard work.

Faculty lead Odin Cappello emphasized the multifaceted learning experience the Chair Show provides. Students not only demonstrate their technical expertise in sketching, CAD modelling, and prototype creation but also develop essential soft skills.

“They have to learn project management. They have to build relationships with suppliers. They have to solve problems they haven’t anticipated,” said Cappello.

ZAETA co-designer Matt Aubie said the show provided the team with an invaluable learning experience. 

“We’re more comfortable with manufacturing, outsourcing materials, focusing on sustainability and focusing on things that we want to show the world and bring into the world,” he said.

For many students, the Chair Show represents the culmination of 12 weeks of hard work. Despite the challenges, Cappello reassures students that perseverance always leads to success.

“I tell the students, it’s going to feel like a lot of work, and it is, but we always finish. Everyone always finishes,” he said.

GEO team member Peter Beerda said that despite obstacles and self-doubt, the payoff of the Chair Show is worth it. 

“It’s so cool to see people enjoying something that we created and put months and months of work into,” he said. 

The Future is Sustainable (and Small)

This year’s Chair Show featured seven designs inspired by future-thinking, sustainability and small-space living. Each chair was required to incorporate Plastic Flux—a recycled plastic material—and feature a frame made of bent steel tubing.

Judges are local design professionals. They consider how ergonomic the chairs are, as well as how innovative and commercially feasible the concepts are.

• First-place winners STAX created space-saving stacking side chairs inspired by brutalist architect Paul Rudolph and fashion designer Rick Ownes. 

  “Our entire color palette, every fabric choice, even down to the finish on the steel, was all derived from brutalism and brutalist design,” said co-designer Philip Moriana. “We wanted to do something different, so that would catch everybody else a little bit off guard.”

• Second-place winner LITERARY’s chair has an integrated wraparound table/bookshelf for avid readers.

  “I live in a small apartment. [Co-designer] Vik lives in a small apartment. And of course, if you want to sit down and read for a long period of time, you need a side table book, bookshelf, etc.,” said co-designer Paige Farrow.

• Third-place winner ZAETA tackled apartment living with a chair featuring a removable seatback double as a table.

  “We wanted something that actually makes sense in people’s lives,” said Laur Conover. “Something that’s comfortable, something that’s easy to assemble and packable, and also something that lives with you for a lifetime.”

• The People’s Choice Award winner, BLOOM, designed a lounger for creative spaces. 

  “It’s a very sculptural chair, so it brings ideas to you,” said co-designer Jaimee Branson. “It has a high back, so it makes you feel encompassed in fabric and material, so you feel safe and comfortable.”

• Named after the Greek word “arachne” meaning spider, ARANEA features an eight-legged design and bright red seat. 

  “The chair itself can grab attention just because of the flow and the colour, it grabs your eyes,” said co-designer Jagjeet Singh.

• Designed with continuous steel tubing and a floating wraparound shelf, GEO aimed for seamlessness. 

  “We wanted one seamless design,” said team member Ajrun Kabir. This meant creating a custom clip to hold the seat together without visible screws on the back.

• NOVELLE’s asymmetrical pentagonal seatback is a combination of team members’ visions.

  “We wanted something that was bold, obviously, would stand out in a room and had personality, and that’s where the backrest came from,” said Ismael Elmi.

Industry Connections

This year’s design concept had students envision “a more sustainable future,” with industry partner Plastic Flux providing recycled polypropylene sheets for students to incorporate into their designs. Plastic Flux collected 1,214 pounds of plastic waste in 2024 that would otherwise have ended up in landfills.

“All this plastic would have ended up in landfill, and it was garbage. To be able to see it being utilized like this is beautiful,” said Saksham Sharma, Creative Director at Plastic Flux and alumnus of Humber’s Bachelor of Industrial Design program.

The recyclable plastic material and steel frames make all the chairs 90 percent recyclable.

BLOOM co-designer Shraddha Ambati expressed satisfaction with this eco-friendly approach: “We’re thrilled that it’s a recyclable material. It makes us feel much better about this chair; if we ever want to get rid of it, we can always just recycle it.”

Industry partners for the Chair Show include Borgo Contract Seating who provided feedback and mentorship for students and access to their upholstery tools. Manortool Ltd., a supporting industry partner, bent the steel tubing parts for the students. Donors include Nienkamper, Copernicus Educational Products, Handling Space, and Anony. 

A Full Circle Moment

Returning alumni Saksham Sharma described working with students as a full circle moment. He fondly recalls his time at Humber and the influence the program and his professors’ influence on his career.

“They really supported me. I’d always been interested in all forms of design, and I think that’s what Humber exposed me to. It was very multidisciplinary for me. I picked up so many different skill sets outside of just the core Industrial design skills,” he said.

Having participated in the Chair Show himself, he wanted to pay forward the support and mentorship he received. 

“I told this cohort, and the previous cohort, that they should not treat school like school, you know, like we say we’re a student of life—and it’s a cliche sort of statement—but I really wanted them to think and behave like professionals,” he said.

“They’re incredible designers; the program and the professors are setting them for success.”