#HTE

Dan Svarth’s Unusual Rocker-less Rocking Chair

Danish architect and furniture designer Dan Svarth designed this unusual rocking chair, which looks like a deck chair:

Here’s how it rocks (sorry I couldn’t find better video):

It comes with a little rack so you can hang it from a wall:

Svarth obviously used the skillsets of both of his professions to create the chair. As Danish manufacturer A. Petersen puts it,

“The Rocking Chair is the result of playful experimentation with cabinetmaking, combined with the architect’s grasp of mathematical calculations of so-called force polygons: how the joints distribute the force you exert on the chair and its joints when you sit down. [Svarth] has precisely calculated how the joints should be placed in order to relieve and distribute the weight in the chair optimally.”

Incredibly, retailer SuiteNY dates the chair to 2018—which means Svarth, who is nearly 80 years old, designed this in his late 70s! I think most furniture designers can only hope to retain that sense of playfulness that deep into one’s career.