Flat Chair by Sara Paculdo | Hacker News Reader

Flat Chair by Sara Paculdo

paculdo.com

114 pointssurprisetalk39 comments

https://www.toxel.com/tech/2026/08/07/flat-chair-by-sara-pac...

Since they rely on curves for the sitting surface, they should have done a proper saddle chair shape instead. The current design prioritize the manufacturer/corporation over the user/human. This is a failure on my book.

Indeed, looks super uncomfy.

And yeah, I helped a friend who's a furniture designer [1] for a few years.

After a while, when you 'beta test' pieces in development a lot, you understand that looks are great but comfort always wins.

[1] https://www.saschaulber.com/works/

In my mind, the chair is meant to deform some, such that the curved seat gives a bit. But that might just be in my mind

I think you're correct. I think it would form sort of an upside down W shape when sat on, but with softer curves, and no edges digging into the user.

Non-curved model that can be made from a single piece of plywood:

https://store.bigguyinatinyhouse.com/products/flat-folding-c...

This should be the top response tbh.

Yup, that wins in simplicity, but a deckchair is almost as simple, and is a lot more comfortable

This looks impossibly uncomfortable though. The backrest looks like it's pushing you off the seat and the chairs legs look like they'd pin in your own. No thanks!!

Not super comfortable, but it has the advantage of being easily disassembled too. It's a folding chair, so you can stuff a stack of them in an attic and bring them out when you need to seat a bunch of people. Paculda's design looks like it makes shipping cheaper, but doesn't otherwise provide benefit.

Fair play on increased simplicity but in the end this looks like a torture device or a toilet add-on for seniors.

In the thumbnail concept sketch it shows someone sitting in it with their arm hanging over one of the “armrests”. What the sketch doesn’t convey is the blood flow to their arm being cut off.

If it doesn’t give you Saturday night palsy it isn’t a chair

I wish they had shown a real version of the chair with a real human sitting on it.

I came here to post the same thing, this is the only thing that matters.

"I want to see it work on a person. I want to see a negative before I provide you with a positive."

- Tyrell, Blade Runner 1982

I don't love it immediately, and yes, in fiberglass this chair doesnt sound too comfortable. But if it were made in leather, I could see it becoming very comfortable indeed, and the keather would also nod to the very obvious saddle shape.

(Always good to see common objects reimagined, even if they might not seem "right", they get a conversation started.)

Leather would not provide the tension needed for this. You'd need a core maybe of something else.

Ok, leather over carbon fiber, for the wealthy.

This person is very talented but that chair looks super uncomfortable. Resting you arms on those thin armrests will hurt within seconds. But that's exactly the type of furniture my mom loves :)

A lot of other modern furniture looks like it was just the default in CAD. Ie completely rectangular arm rests with sharp edges etc. I get that a car like Ford Sierra looked featureless and too simple in its time, I guess it seemed like lazy design. Where were all the trims and grilles and fenders and in general the "borders between things"? But I think it didn't hurt its usability.

That looks awfully uncomfortable, I suspect that it will rapidly fall apart under stress and leave nice sharp splinters of fibreglass everywhere, including in your skin.

It makes me appreciate even more the simplicity and affordable price of a folding chair.

https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/vihals-folding-chair-green-0059...

It's cool but that rounded seat looks very uncomfortable. I could imagine it as a great item for a child's room though, if they could build it themselves from the flat sheet.

What an awesome website!

Flat-Folding Chair Woodworking Template

https://store.bigguyinatinyhouse.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqxizHEHY...

I love the way it looks.. but I did not think about how it may feel.. It could be a MOMA piece tho..

Except that I just don't subscribe to the idea that flatpackedness should be the guiding principle of furniture design.

At first it appears to be a single part, but it’s really four parts, plus twelve connector pins.

As publicidades que mais odeio: Internet (roubam sua privacidade, lateralizam seu pensamento). Embalagens (prefiro as embalagens Dharma, militares e soviéticas: sem cores ou textura, so informações). E de produtos: a mais pura inovação (o lixo da minha cidade é cheio de inovações). A que mais vou odiar no futuro: as embutidas na IA.

> Made from durable fiberglass panels

What sort of fiberglass bends as much as depicted without breaking?

Fiberglass can be made with all kinds if resins, including flexible ones.

Come for the chair.. stay for the statues dressed in clothes.. made my day

The screws on the bottom will be under lots of strain I imagine

Also, depending on how flexible the material is, it looks like those screws might scratch the floor on which the chair sits?

And, unfortunately, strain in the wrong direction, as the bottom plate will want to flatten out. It doesn't look like this chair will last more than a few days before dropping you on the screws.

Looks extremely uncomfortable and unstable.

Nice tall backrest, angled inward so that only the top corner slices into your back and nothing else makes contact.

...Also I hope you don't have any bones in your butt

Ad-free link from original creator: https://paculdo.com/innovative-housewares-inside-out-design-...

Thank you. The original website is a uniquely awful ad-infested page.

Ok, I've made that link the top one (even though you have to scroll down to find the flat chair) and moved the submitted link to the top text.

Thanks!

Reply on news.ycombinator.com