THE GUY CREATING HUMANIST FURNITURE TO IMPROVE OUR LIVES: Hunn Wai, 38, industrial designer, and co-founder and creative director of Lanzavecchia + Wai
I f you’ve not had cause to use the Assunta chair designed by Wai and partner, or if you haven’t heard of its existence before this, then maybe you can count yourself fortunate. Or maybe not so fortunate, because – aesthetics-wise – you’ve missed the genius simplicity of a functional chair that helps you get up.
For seniors with decreased mobility, the act of rising from a chair is a real toil. What Assunta cleverly does is to let you use your body weight as leverage by stepping on the foot bar to tilt the chair, which naturally propels you to stand up.
Wai set up his consultancy with Italian friend and business partner Francesca Lanzavecchia in 2009 to “inject humanity, poetry and intelligence into multiple scales, domains and contexts. We want to use our practice to generate value for the human experience”.
And while they’re known for collaborations with companies like Hermes, Tod’s and De Castelli, it’s their self-initiated “No Country for Old Men” redesign project – aimed at empowering the elderly – that truly scores points on the humanist scale.
“We are currently working with an architecture office to create solutions for the elderly in Singapore. I feel the design scene is rather open, optimistic and keen to define new contexts where our competencies and skill sets can be applied effectively,” he adds.