Childrens' chair, 'Little Nobody', blue, by Boris Berlin and Poul Christiansen (Komplot Design), designed 2008, blue thermo-pressed PET felt

A child's chair made from a single piece of red thermopressed PET felt.

Given by the designer

Designed in 2008, Little Nobody is an children’s chair produced from a single piece of PET felt.

The chair is the children’s edition of Nobody, a full-size chair by Boris Berlin and Poul Christiansen of the Danish firm Komplot Design. The inspiration for the adult size is said to be a request by a Swedish prison to design a chair that was light, comfortable, stackable, noise-less, cavity-free, and unable to be used as a weapon.

The chair is a unique design for a childrens’ chair. The surprising materiality of the chair, stiffened felt which creates a solid structure able to hold body weight, provides a visually intriguing prompt for younger audiences to explore materiality.

A square of PET felt is thermopressed into shape around a mould, and the edges neatened with a water jet. The felt then retains its stiffness without any additions such as a frame, glue, resins, or fasteners. The resulting chair is light, without hard edges, easily stacked and silent when moved – making it an ideal chair for children. The PET felt from which the chair is made is an interesting example of how recycled plastic can be used in furniture production. To manufacture the felt, plastic bottles are first sorted and shredded into tiny fibres of plastic. These fibres are melted and formed into threads, and then felted using industrial machinery.