In 2009, designer Dirk van der Kooij decided to launch his own design studio with the firm intention of revealing that any material, whatever it is, can be reused. Plastic, metal, leather... are used in the design of each piece of the designer's various collections. Thanks to innovative machines, specially designed by the Kooij studio, the textured forms of the Sunflower lamp or the Chubby chair reveal a strangeness, sometimes singular, sometimes organic, specific to the design brand. The works of Dirk van der Kooij can be admired at MoMA in New York and San Francisco or at the Vitra Design Museum.
Three years later, the designer launched Chubby, a gourmet seat with infinite lines that creates an enigmatic movement. This shape is explained by the lack of memory of the robot in charge of its manufacture, giving the Chubby chair an atypical character. Its composition? Ten kilos of recycled plastics, mainly from the inside of refrigerators. Available in twelve colors - guava, pastel, yellow or brick - the pigments, mixed by hand, are introduced directly during the manufacture of the chair, made with the help of extrusion - a technique that transforms a solid material into a more flexible material due to heat. Like a still-warm marshmallow, the handcrafted structure of the furniture makes each one unique. The Chubby chair remains a timeless classic of contemporary design that is both exciting and intriguing to this day.
Marine Mimouni