REX is a multi-award-winning chair designed by Ineke Hans that has been given a second life by Circuform. Circuform is a new brand that gives industrially designed furniture a circular life: minimizing the use of expensive new raw materials and maximizing reuse. 

REX has many lives and is the first Dutch deposit chair. The second life of REX: Circuform relaunched an award-winning design by Ineke Hans from 2011. The result is REX. The design has been constructively realized as intended. The injection molds have been re-engineered for recycled material, making the chair sustainable and fully recyclable. A network of deposit stations has been introduced where chairs can be returned for a refund. Chairs are checked, cleaned, repaired when necessary, and resold, again with a deposit. Broken chairs are shredded into valuable raw materials for new production.   

If we want to move to a circular economy, we also have to think about other economic systems. Circuform gives industrially designed furniture a circular life, aims to minimize the use of expensive new raw materials and maximize reuse, and takes responsibility for what it produces. Production has the lowest possible ecological impact, and REX is made from recycled industrial waste such as office chair components, fishing nets, or carpets.  

It proved that Italy was the best place to produce REX in Europe. The deposit system uses existing distribution networks in the contract and furniture world.  

The chair is designed with a separate seat and back. The back is flexible, which makes the chair comfortable for tall, short, heavy, and slim people. The seat and back can be replaced if needed or desired. The chairs can be stacked and placed in rows with or without arms. The arms create a nice surface when placed next to each other.  

The design is one aspect, but the most innovative elements are the recycling, reuse, and distribution strategies behind REX. Circuform takes responsibility for its production and takes the plastic back to local collection points. It was explicitly set up to minimize the use of expensive new raw materials and to maximize reuse.  

Plastic is a wonderful material. It makes REX a great chair for canteens, kitchens, and lecture halls, and allows for the springy back. Yet, too little of our plastic is recycled (in 2020, only 19% in most Northern European countries). The guaranteed refund is, in fact, for the material that can be used again as a resource for production instead of ending up as waste.  

REX is the first Dutch deposit chair and sets an example for the industry by organizing not only its distribution to users but also the distribution from users. By doing so, Circuform takes care of its used materials and guarantees the reuse and recycling of the materials. REX also aims to make users aware of what, how, and where they use furniture and goods.

Since its introduction in October 2021, REX has found its way into five museum collections: Vitra Design Museum Weil am Rhein, Die Neue Sammlung Munich, Design Museum Gent, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Rotterdam. 

More exciting is that REX has a second life and performs on various levels: First, Circuform focuses on GOOD design and not only on NEW design, so a 10-year-old chair now flourishes as it was meant to. Secondly, the story of REX is not just about the design, but about the strategies, services, and networks behind the scenes of production and consumerism, to enable circularly designed products 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 positive contribution to a sustainable world. Ineke Hans – a leading Dutch designer – designs furniture, products, exhibitions, and public spaces for international clients and explores new design strategies and product typologies for our future. She is a professor of Design & Social Context at the University of the Arts in Berlin. 

Since its introduction in October 2021, REX has found its way into five museum collections: Vitra Design Museum Weil am Rhein, Die Neue Sammlung Munich, Design Museum Gent, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and 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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