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The human body is a machine made for continuous movement and remaining still for long periods of time can have extremely serious consequences.” So says Italian designer Riccardo Blumer about the Dinamica chair he has created with Matteo Borghi for Alias. While other designers have responded to research that links increased movement to improved concentration (see the Barber Osgerby Tip Ton chair in Icon 095), Blumer’s emphasis is on making us happier and healthier: “Happiness can’t be reached by leaving our body aside … As I like to say: in a fit body, happiness comes through the dynamics of movement.” Dinamica consists of a backless polyurethane foam seat and base-cum-footrest that have been moulded around a stove-enamelled tube frame. The greatest change from the wooden version exhibited at Milan in 2009 is that Blumer and Borghi have at last succeeded at imitating the action of the inflatable exercise balls that first inspired them. “For over a year,” Blumer says, “we’ve worked at replacing the front legs of a traditional chair with a quarter sphere, so that the chair could be stable but also dynamic.” And so sitting on the stool, just like sitting ona yoga ball, requires that you keep your feet on the floor – until you decide that you want to tilt the chair to its forward resting position.
The new Dinamica is now also backless, with a seat that combines, to this mind, the qualities of a racing bike with a shooting stick, though Blumer prefers to liken it to “horse and motorbike saddles”. And its appearance is more than a little reminiscent of Achille Castiglioni’s 1957 Mezzadro stool which was inspired by tractor seats. Dinamica comes in five different colours, though even in the muted grey variation it’s never going to blend into the background. And does its creator enjoy using his engagingly odd looking creation? “I take pleasure in using it – especially when my back aches. The rotation of the pelvis is very important.”
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Image Alias
Words Fatema Ahmed |
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