“I was looking at bird profiles, and my aim was to see how the shapes I find in nature can fit the human body,” Anker explains. “Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most powerful if you can get to them.”
Here’s how you can channel these nature-inspired concepts in your own designs.
(Photo: nea studio founder Nina Edwards Anker's Bird Chair; Credit: Caylon Hackwith)
[Related: Biophilic Design Boost Productivity]
How Design Takes Flight
Bird Chair and Bird Bed both mirror the profile of a bird on the horizon. Users can sit on the spread wings to read a book or recline in a courtyard. Bird Chair has one wing raised to serve as a backrest, while Bird Bed, which can serve as a daybed, has both wings flat. Both can accommodate up to two people and are crafted from flexible 2.5-millimeter-thick recycled aluminum that gently adapts to the user, Anker notes.
“It flexes to your body,” Anker says. “It’s kind of like a rocking chair in that it’s the same soothing movement that cradles your body. It moves with you instead of being like a hard rock.”
Bird Chair and Bird Bed both have the option of anchoring into the ground for permanent outdoor installations; you can also specify it with a base for atriums, lobbies or other spaces where you might periodically move the furnishings. Wherever you place it, Bird Chair and Bird Bed create a soothing, graceful visual that serves as a focal point in any space.
(Photo: nea studio founder Nina Edwards Anker's Bird Chair; Credit: Caylon Hackwith)
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