BEA Raynor's Bea Office Chair / Desk Chair by Eurotech, Bea is a new concept in seating. Instead of articulating all ergonomic technology by exposing an exo-skeleton, like much of recent office seating solutions, Bea incorporates all in its flexible and sensual shell. In its loaded version, it includes the strictest ergonomic and safety standards (EN, ANSI-BIFMA), while in its non-work versions it becomes a residential lounge chair.
- Overall dimensions 27" W x 20" D x 44" H
- Seat dimensions 21" W x 16" - 19" D x 19" - 22 1/2" H
- Weight capacity 250 lbs
- Chair weight 65 lbs
Less without, and more within *
*Shakespeare, Cymbeline Act V
The BEA project began with the intent of producing a chair that was adaptable, comfortable,
without it being like a contraption, a metal-rich machine, or looking like a
chair in which to have one's teeth drilled.
When writing the brief we were striving for a discreet technology: to create a chair
that spoke more to the human being that sits in it, rather than revelling in its machinery
or the carpentry that made it possible. A chair with an identity that was to be more
organic than technical.
Many a beautiful chair is rarely used to sit on/in. The last decades have witnessed a
collector's penchant towards surrounding us with chairs that are more appreciated for
their formal characteristics and less used for doing some serious sitting. One gives
them a place in their life admiring their form, often as sculpture. But could you sit on
one for more than an hour?
The context was well described already back in 1976 by Niels Diffrient in his contribution
to The Evolving Chair lecture series, “The average man spends as much as two
hours (sometimes more) commuting behind the wheel of an automobile or in a train.
This is followed by roughly eight hours behind a desk or operating a machine. And
after this day of sitting, what happens? An evening spent sitting watching TV”.1
Today, as in the foreseeable future, large portions of daily work and living includes sitting,
often in front of some kind of I.T. interface. Hours a day spent sitting by billions
of people. Persons of not only different cultures but of quite different body types. In the
same series of lectures Ralph Caplan urged us to “remember that no other animal
requires a prosthetic device for regular ongoing use”.2 The sheer numbers of the people
sitting for so many hours, and the variety of different corporeal structures required
the BEA project to be centered around adaptability. And for designs that address such
a large number of users there are international anthropometric standards guidelining
dimensions and characteristics of a chair for correct posture and body support allowing
for as many users as possible. BEA was designed to respect such rigorous
ergonomic guidelines.
In the BEA chair the Fuksas couple have tackled not just a chair. Or just another beautiful
chair. Doriana and Massimiliano have chosen to design a changing shape; design
a range of movement; for as many people as possible.
1. Fuksas' challenge was to design to adaptable dimensions. So not a fixed form or
volume, but one that can grow, shrink, extend and retract to the individual sitter's
needs.
But as different are the body types that need to be seated comfortably, so are the positions
and changes of position they assume while spending all those hours seated.
2. Must move with the person. So not only a volume that changes shape but also
moves: a dynamic and changing object.
BEA in short: a single shape that changes and moves for the many.
Together with Luigi Cappellin we were to coordinate and engineer the adaptability
and inner workings of the BEA. Rigorous ergonomic methodology and research in
materials have fostered the chosen solution that addresses both project brief and
Fuksas' vision. A new kind of patented user interface for ergonomic set-up and adjustment
was also conceived: "push-&-click" controls. These rotating cylinders are completely
retractable. Thereby allowing, in their different combinations, each single BEA
chair to have more than 12,600 different ergonomic set-ups. Shunning the overt use
of metal or the truss-like construction of the chair frame, BEA is based on layers, or as
we like to call them: skins. Research and development was done with eco-compatible
materials and hybrid polymers used in the athletic footwear industry. Indeed, the BEA
is a chair built much like a running shoe.
The femininity of the BEA, often referred to by Doriana during the design process, is
not only to be found in its hourglass silhouette, but also in its womb-like simplicity and
reassuring strength of character. It has one the noblest and most reassuring of idealized
feminine qualities: an identity stronger than flux in it and movement around it.
Enclosing a wealth of resource and strength, and indeed complexity, all in a truly
graceful form.
Stefano Getzel
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