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Industrial Design Professor’s “Minimal Chair” Folds Flat, Assembles in Seconds

With their educator’s workload, it would be easy for any industrial design professor to stop designing themselves, occupied as they are with evaluating student work. Not so for TJ Kim, an associate professor of Industrial Design at Purdue University, who has managed to squeeze in the time to design a “Minimal Chair” that folds flat and assembles in seconds, without tools. Here’s his mockup, and how it works:

Obviously the real deal wouldn’t be cardboard. According to Purdue:

[Kim’s chair] has foldable hinges and is made from thin and light metal, wood and leather materials. It ships in a flat package to reduce shipping costs by more than 50 percent. According to Kim, shipping costs typically account for one-third of the overall costs for manufacturing goods.

The chair could be modified for different sizes, dimensions and weight bearing, depending on the need of a manufacturer.

“We want to take giant leaps in sustainable manufacturing,” Kim said. “This chair represents only one small piece of our overall goal to streamline lean manufacturing and reduce energy waste.”