Niko

'Niko' is the result of a group project in which the mission was to design and build a new classroom chair for use by young children. With ergonomic freedom as the primary focus, the final design realises that children are often very restless; rarely sitting in a chair correctly for an extended period of time. As opposed to most modern classroom chairs that promote a single, 'correct' way to be seated, Niko instead encourages different seating positions and postures while remaining as ergonomically-sound as possible. The inherent flexibility and simplicity built into the design allows for unimpeded movement and change of body posture when seated . Furthermore, the chair is designed to be lightweight, stackable, easily repairable, and viable for mass-manufacturing. Following an in-depth iterative design process, a 3/4 scale prototype was constructed to test the feasibility of the overall concept, with components made from CNC-machined pine as placeholders for injection-molded plastic parts.

Group Members:

• Tessa Brownlee

• Josephine Boakes

• Ryan Tucker

[2014, Victoria University of Wellington]