Izzy’s Hannah chair. Photo courtesy Izzy+.Office chairs have been being made with nylon frames for a long while now—that has been the go-to material for designers, a familiar alternative to heavy, dense, hard metal frames. But although nylon is lighter than metal, it still makes for a heavy chair. Asahi developed their Thermylene brand as a lightweight alternative to nylon for furniture, creating a polypropylene product that also performs better when it comes to stress whitening and tensile strength.
Now, SoForm (which Asahi debuted at Neocon 2012) takes the properties of Thermylene and combines them with this new focus on touch. SoForm not only has a soft surface feel, but also good scratch resistance and chemical resistance. It is directly injection molded, and can be made in a variety of colors, so not only does it feel good, it looks great too.
Furniture made with materials that are efficient, reduce waste and still provide a great user experience are good for everyone, from manufacturer to designer to consumer. As Joel Wiese, marketing for Asahi Kasei says, “Haptics are probably the next edge in materials design—products that not just look great, but feel great.” We couldn’t agree more!