Carpet Seat

Sonja Stein

2023

A low-to-the-ground seat made with repurposed materials uses soft textures and curves to create a comfortable seating experience. 

The seat needed to be less than or equal to 36 inches in LxHxW. With this in mind, initial sketches of shapes with possible materials like cardboard, foam, fabric samples, wood, and twine were considered. Questions like, "What is a seat" were explored in order to think of more than a preconceived notion of what is normally considered a seat. 

Samples donated from design firms were inviting materials to explore in what shapes they could make. Explorations in structure and comfort were important. The carpet samples when rolled were the most comfortable material looked at and had a  sableable nature that allowed for interesting shapes. 

Now with the chosen material more sketches were drawn to nail down a possible shape using carpet rolls. Throughout the building process elements to make the seat more sturdy like the wire frame and sheets where added when problems arose. methods of knotting were used in tandem with adhesive to secure the seats form.   

Created with carpet rolls, cotton rope dyed with black tea, steel wire, steel frame, sheet metal, jute twine, and vinyl carpet adhesive. The materials are either repurposed or from a natural source with the exception of the adhesive. The samples give a variety of textures balanced with a neutral palette.