The human body is not built for rigid sitting on a chair over an extended period. In fact, moving and repeated changing of the seating position is highly recommended. In this context, ergonomic seating has a significant importance for the preservation of long-term health. Modern office chairs are often featured with complex mechanisms: Hydraulic systems, steel springs or synchronization mechanisms enable us to make specified movements. The concept of the Bender chair concentrates on using the material to enable those movements. The cushioning properties of steel and the flexibility of glass fibre arrange the movement you desire with this prototype. The seat shell was manufactured in meticulously handwork in numerous production steps. The middle section got a sandwich core to be braced, the edge is shaped thin to be soft. For serial production the seat would be made of polypropylene instead of glass fibre.

Frederik Kurzweg trained as a cabinet maker at a traditional company near Münster, Germany. His hand crafted journeyman´s piece attracted a lot of attention and also received several design awards. Motivated by this early success, he started studying industrial design at the University of Applied Sciences in Magdeburg where he expanded his professional knowlege about different material properties and technical design processes. After graduating he added the Master of Arts in product design at the University of Fine Arts of Hamburg where he focused his work on furniture design. With his practical Master thesis „Bender chair“ he especially deepens his knowlege on bending metal and synthetic resins processing (polyester, epoxy, and vinylester resins) reinforced with glass and carbon fiber.