Ever Wonder Where Furniture Designers Get Their Inspiration?

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Chair of the Month

Elise Shapiro
Elise Shapirohttps://www.workdesign.com
Elise Shapiro is a contributing editor. Little did she know that her first job, in the facilities department at Ralston Purina, while obtaining her M. Arch at Washington University, in St. Louis would foreshadow where her career would lead. She has always been a strong advocate for providing the best possible spaces for people to work – where aesthetics meet function and drive business success.

In Encore’s case it was the extreme sport of wingsuit flying…can you spot the influences?

The options across the entire Faction line provide the ability to unify the seating choices throughout spaces for design continuity.

Encore, whose goal is to provide innovative seating and table options for today’s work environments, has recently expanded their product offerings with the introduction of the Faction collection.

The Faction collection is a full family of seating products comprised of executive, conference and task chairs along with a complete offering of guest and multi-use chairs that provide stack, nesting and mobile capabilities. This comprehensive program allows Faction to address nearly every seating need in the office environment. A singular design language can be deployed throughout multiple spaces – from the executive level all the way to multi-purpose rooms. Not only does this facilitate specifying for these areas, it also creates a common visual thread, unifying the surroundings.

There was a strong desire to minimize the complexity of each model, not only in the simple self-weighing mechanism on the swivel chairs, but also with the thinly sculpted suspension back and tailored upholstery details. The guest/multi-use chairs also reflect this design intent with a beautifully sculpted poly back or upholstered back version.

Where do you think our readers would be most interested in specifying this product line in their upcoming workplace projects?

There are some design innovations that are particularly well suited for today’s more modern workspaces. Given the push to provide better ergonomic seating and to minimize the complexity of making individual adjustments, especially as more workspace is shared among people of all sizes and shapes, we think these features would be of key interest.

The sculpted back informed by the wingsuit design seamlessly integrated with the arms creates one graceful form that comfortably supports the user.

The self-weighing tilt mechanism featured on the executive and conference swivel chairs automatically regulates tension based on individual body-type, eliminating the need for manual adjustments. Imagine going to a chair in a conferencing environment and the tension is always perfectly set for you. . .no adjustment needed! Multi-use nesting chairs were also created with ease of use in mind, allowing for quick reconfigurability based on the needs of a space at any given time.  On casters, it’s light and mobile and offers the ability to nest or stack for space-saving convenience.

Tell us a little about the design team.

Faction was designed by David Ritch and Mark Saffell of 5d Studio. They bring years of award-winning furniture design expertise to Encore with this product introduction.

David Ritch and Mark Saffell have worked together for many years and have garnered multiple product design awards, including multiple Best of NeoCon awards and the coveted IDSA Design of the Decade award, and most recently achieving Gold in the 2018 International Design Excellence (IDEA) awards. Their work has also been exhibited at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and the Pasadena Museum of California Design.

What was the inspiration for the line?

The design was inspired by the full body suits employed in the extreme sport of wingsuit flying. The designers took their cues from how the continuous form of the body suit envelops the body and arms and is paralleled in the chair’s design elements – where the arm and back are seamlessly presented as one dynamic shape.

The Faction seating collection was inspired by the flight suits worn by wingsuit skydivers!

What do you think our readers will love about the product?

In addition to the cohesive look across all models and the multipurpose capabilities, the design is what really makes Faction a standout. The back and arms are united in a simple curvilinear form that blends the two together seamlessly, creating a sinuous line that gives the chair its visual signature. This form also creates ergonomic comfort via the arm’s integration into the back, creating a perfect cradle for the elbow and arm. All models are also offered with a lifetime warranty, speaking to the quality and durability for which Encore is recognized.

What is the price range of the Faction collection?

There is a fairly large range due to the scope of the product collection, but guest chairs start at between $450 and $500 and executive/conference seating begins at just over $1,000. Executive, conference, and task models are available now and guest models are slated to be available in early Spring 2020. Our expansive textile program can be accessed here.

There is a seating option for every workplace scenario within the Faction collection.

Where can our readers see the Faction collection?

We currently have the line on display at our permanent showroom at theMart (space 336) in Chicago. We will be featuring it at this year’s NeoCon and presenting it at other regional shows (TBD) later this year.

Faction’s nesting chair options are a great fit for today’s flexible workplaces.

Interested in finding out more details about Faction? Find a rep here.

Follow Encore on social media:

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn

 

All images are courtesy of Encore.
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