Furniture by Ineke Hans and Ton Haas with circular potential

September 21, 2021, 4:01 PM

by ROBERT MUIS

Sander van Doorn sought an approach to minimize the use of new raw materials and maximize reuse in office furniture production. His recently introduced brand, Circuform, is launching with two chairs by designers Ton Haas and Ineke Hans.

Circuform aims to give industrially designed furniture a circular life. The initial launch features an award-winning chair design by Ineke Hans from 2011, which is being reintroduced by the brand in an adapted version. The result is REX.

Deposit chair
The injection molds for Hans's design were remanufactured for recycled material, the company explains. The REX is made from recycled PA6, sourced from office chair components, fishing nets, and carpets, as well as industrial waste. The chair itself can be recycled again at the end of its lifespan.

However, why recycle something if it is not yet necessary? If the user wishes to dispose of the REX for any reason, it can be returned to local Circuform drop-off points for a €20 deposit. There are currently ten such locations spread across the Netherlands. Circuform claims the REX is therefore the first deposit-based chair.

Returned deposit chairs are inspected, cleaned, repaired if necessary, and resold. The deposit scheme applies again in these cases. Items that cannot be repaired are shredded into raw material for new production.

Post-consumer plastic
A second chair that Circuform is introducing is the Kwart, a design by Ton Haas. The chair is made entirely from post-consumer plastic waste. The furniture's design stems from a quest for the balance between efficient material use, comfort, technical feasibility, and price, while also projecting a distinct visual identity.

Haas models his chairs digitally, he explains. This allows him to calculate and test their strength and find the technically optimal form within the design concept.

“I generally try to design in such a way that recycled plastics can be used without leading to a decrease in strength and elasticity,” says Haas. “The Kwart has an optimal balance between the amount of material and rigidity.”

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