Lîla Chair

2024

The Lîla Chair is a colourful and friendly reminder to remain curious, flexible, and nurture our childlike intuition. The chair’s typology is immediately recognizable, drawing inspiration from a widely encountered children’s toy that has pervaded doctors’ offices and waiting rooms since the 1980s.

The title ‘Lîla’ is derived from a Sanskrit word describing the act of divine play. Lîla is simple, spontaneous, childlike, and disarming; it is an uninhibited creative act. The chair’s construction was animated by these values and fabricated using a small selection of hand tools and recycled materials. The Lîla Chair represents a departure from pragmatic design work and explores the balance between work and play in the studio.

The chair was created for and displayed during the 2024 DesignTO Festival, and presented in collaboration with Peach Boy, a highly regarded children’s boutique in Roncesvalles with an emphasis on good design, creativity, and sustainability.