Banyan Chaise

• Prize
  Winner in Chaise Longue
• Company/Firm
  Shanghai Tongqi Design Consultants Co., Ltd
• Designer
  Tongqi Lu
• Location
  Shanghai, China
• Project Date
  04.01.2023
• Project Link
  view
• Web URL
  view

The Banyan Chaise is a lounge chair and lamp inspired by the great banyan, a tree that grows abundantly in the south of China. Interestingly, the inspiration was rooted in the designer’s personal growing-up experiences and then grew into a contemporary design language that talks about home, belongingness and the homesickness that emanates out of it.

On a rainy summer day, sitting inside a temple looking out towards the wet stone road and dampened bricks, listening to the song of rain dripping from the ceiling– the scene seemed familiar, nostalgic and comforting to the designer. She visualized the roots of the banyan tree emerging from a stem growing vertically downward, forming its own root. But the taproot system is interconnected. Just like us– we migrate from city to city, from country to country, travel between cultures, harboring our own values and unique experiences. But, we’re still intertwined with our roots, our home.

The swing material is strung with indoor or outdoor fabric. Chaise structure s made with sustainable metal mesh and a reusable stainless steel rod. With crafted bending technology, the industrial materials present a soft, man-made warm quality to the chair.