Theo - Collection

One of my personal favorites, Theo was designed to a very specific brief from Chorus for an extremely comfortable, lightweight yet very strong and durable, wooden high density stacking and linking chair for the Church market.

The need for Churches to be used for additional activities has grown considerably and not just on Sundays, also throughout the week. These internal spaces are often at the heart of the community and need to be flexible meaning the traditionally used Pew is being replaced by chairs that can be maneuvered by all and stacked out of the way quickly with minimum of fuss and energy.

As a material Wood embodies a timelessness that is more in keeping with the sense of permanence and history both old and new Churches possess. Churches are one of very few environments which connect the progression and passing of generations and there isn't another material that conveys this heritage in such a familiar, warm and friendly way.

Every part of the chair was designed to embody the qualities of wood and the technologies used in its manufacture. The elegant simplicity and highly resolved nature of the Theo chair belies its technical complexity; the thin ply-formed backrest and leg frames being designed to flex, dissipating load by acting as springs that allow the chair to flex in use thus avoiding stress on individual joints.

A linking mechanism enables rows to remain straight in use and 3 chairs to be stacked whilst linked together and by being exceptionally light for a wooden chair at less than 4 kg it allows users to link, unlink and stack large numbers of chairs easily and quickly. A stack of 30 high on either a single or triple width trolley will go through a standard door and due to the comparatively low combined weight a stack of this height is very easily maneuvered.

During development it became apparent the concept was contemporary enough to fit into all types of environments both contract and domestic. Since its launch in 2011 the design has evolved into a range of tables, benches, stools, pews and credenzas using common components.

Chorus at newdesigngroup.co.uk