What do car and furniture designers have in common? Both spend a lot of time thinking and designing ergonomically comfortable seating. There are obvious overlaps between car and furniture seating. Why not take it a step further and give your furniture a car look as well.
Franz Romero’s Bugatti chair is a great example. The Bugatti chair is available at ddc – Domus Design Collection in New York as DS-57. Restoration Hardware makes another version made to look worn and distressed like a seat out of an antique sportscar.
This Bugatti chair is beautiful and comfortable. When sitting down you feel nestled into the chair. The angled seat pulls you slightly back into the chair. While the photo does not show it, the Bugatti chair can be purchased with a headrest. While the headrest completes the car vernacular, in my opinion the headrest is ergonomically necessary. Not only does it create an authentic car experience it also rests your head and relaxes your neck. Your body will be asking you for it.
For an additional element of fun choose a different leather color, perhaps a punchy red for the headrest which looks much like a roll.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have been a fan of car seats since my early teens when I managed to pull the rear seat out of an old VW. It adorned my room for quite awhile – one of many subsequent designs.
As both a car and design enthusiast I appreciate car manufacturers who pay attention to the seating in their vehicles.
One thing is for sure: our bodies evaluate the seats we put them into consciously or unconsciously. The three places we likely find our bodies seated in most frequently are our furniture at home, at the office and in our cars. So it really should not come as a surprise to find connections between cars and home seating. It’s actually a bit surprising is that there aren’t more references and overt cross-pollinations.