Come for Table. Seating system for outdoor dining

Background

During summer 2019, I was working in Digital Creativity Laboratory (DC Lab), a coworking space for creative professionals at Nazarbayev University. Noticing my work, the managers of the lab invited me to take part in the Creative Spark competition, organized by British Council. I became the country finalist with the project called Come For Table, the seating system for outdoor dining.

The idea for this seating system came to me years earlier in Almaty. One spring day, I passed by Del Papa restaurant when it suddenly began to rain. The staff hurriedly gathered chairs and stacked them on top of each other. But those chairs weren't designed to be stacked. In addition, the seats and backs were upholstered, so they risked being damaged by water. The waiters had to cover everything with film. I was thinking, Wow, that was time consuming. All the waiters were busy, while the guests were patiently waiting inside. And most likely this situation happens in numerous cafes and restaurants around the world. The drawbacks of chair design can substantially affect the business.

Developing the Come For Table seating system, I kept several basic principles in mind:

(1) First, practicality. The chair should be light so that you can quickly pick it up. With special hinges and one simple movement, the legs could turn up by 180 degrees. With the second movement, the chair itself could be flipped and placed back on the floor. Now the seat and back are underneath and stay dry in the rain. In this position, the chairs could also be stacked compactly.

(2) Second, simplicity. The chair should have only 5 main parts. The parts could be produced from recycled plastic.

(3) Third, beauty and comfort. The chair should be pleasing both aesthetically (when you see it) and physically (when you sit on it).

Outcome

I decided to share the 3D files into open access, so that anyone could improve the idea and produce the chair. However, this is only one of the designs in the Come For Table seating system. If you are interested to support this work, please let me know at hello@nicktoa.com