REX is amulti-awarded chair designed by Ineke Hans who gets a second life by Circuform.Circuform is a new brand that gives industrially designed furniture a circularlife: minimizing the use of expensive new raw materials and maximizing reuse. 

REX hasmany lives and is the first Dutch deposit chair. The second life of REXCircuform relaunched an award-winning design by Ineke Hans from 2011. Theresult is REX. The design has constructively been worked out as intended. Theinjection molds are re-engineered for recycled material, the chair issustainable and fully recyclable. A network of deposit stations is introducedwhere chairs can be returned for a refund. Chairs are checked, cleaned,repaired when necessary, and re-sold, again with a deposit. Broken chairs areshredded into valuable raw materials for new production.   

If we wantto move to a circular economy we also have to think about other economicsystems. Circuform gives industrially designed furniture a circular life, aimsto minimize the use of expensive new raw materials and maximize reuse, andtakes responsibility for what they produce. The production has the lowestpossible ecological impact and REX is made from recycled industrial waste suchas office chair components, fishing nets, or carpets.  

It provedthat Italy was the best place to produce REX in Europe. The deposit system usesexisting distribution networks in the contract and furniture world.  

The chairis designed with a separate seat and back. The back is flexible which makes thechair enjoyable for tall, small, fat, and thin people. The seat and back can bereplaced if needed or desired. The chairs can be stacked and placed in rowswith or without arms. The arms make a nice surface when they stand next to eachother.  

The designis one aspect, but the most innovative are the recycling, reuse, anddistribution strategies behind REX. Circuform takes responsibility for itsproduction and takes the plastic back to local collection points. It wasexplicitly set up to minimize the use of expensive new raw materials and tomaximize reuse.  

Plastic isa wonderful material. It makes REX a good chair for canteens, kitchens, andlecture theatres, and allows the springy back. Yet, too little of our plasticis recycled (in 2020 in most northern European countries only 19%). Theguaranteed refund is in fact for the material that can be used again as aresource for production instead of ending up as waste.  

REX is thefirst Dutch deposit chair and sets an example to the industry by organizing notonly its distribution to the users but also the distribution from the users. Bydoing so Circuform takes care of its used materials and guarantees the re-useand recycling of the materials. REX also wants to make users aware of what,how, and where they use furniture and goods.

REX foundits way into five museum collections since its introduction in October 2021:Vitra Design Museum Weil am Rhein, Neue Sammlung München, Design Museum Gent,Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam. 

Moreexciting is that REX has a second life and performs on various levels: First,Circuform focuses on GOOD design and not only on NEW design, thus a 10-year-oldchair flourishes now as it was meant to be. Secondly, the story about REX isnot only about the design, but about the strategies, services, and networksbehind the scene of production and consumerism, to enable circularly designedproducts in our world.  

Circuform –a new furniture brand – gives industrially designed furniture a circular life.A collection of old legends and new heroes in Dutch design makes a positivecontribution to a sustainable world. Ineke Hans – a leading Dutch Designer –designs, for international clients, furniture, products, exhibitions, andpublic spaces and explores new design strategies and product typologies for ourfuture. She is a professor of Design & Social Context at the University ofthe Arts in Berlin. 

REX foundits way into five museum collections since its introduction in October 2021:Vitra Design Museum Weil am Rhein, Neue Sammlung München, Design Museum Gent,Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen Rotterdam. 

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The Article:

 The Chicago Athenaeum - REX, the First Dutch Deposit Chair | 2021-2022 (chi-athenaeum.org)

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