You think you’ve seen this chair somewhere before, it reminds you of a “well-known” chair, but it isn’t quite the same! The Lockheed chair had the DSW chair by Charles and Ray Eames on purpose as its starting point. The entire concept of the Lockheed chair is to develop the DSW chair and modernize it according to Benjamin Riot and Valentin Sollier who are the designers of this project.

This project started by a click in their heads while they were sophomores at the Ecole de Design Nantes Atlantique in France studying Industrial Design. Their passion for design and similar visions in design perspectives led them to team up and work together ever since. With one goal in mind this self-motivated team tried to alter the design to this iconic chair. After a lot of brainstorming and research, the answer to their challenge was found in the realizations of German designer Konstantin Grcic who has designed chair One for Magis . However, the implementation and modernization of the chair was inspired by the US military plane F117 Night Hawk or otherwise nicknamed “The Hopeless Diamond;” diamond because of its diamond like shape and hopeless due to its alleged instability at low speeds. The polygonal shapes of the seat have kept qualities of the F117 Night Hawk and of the DSW chair.

 We at Yatzer believe that the DSW chair by Charles & Ray Eames (1950) is an iconic chair of the past century, a legendary chair, a chair which was designed with one factor in mind functionality. The conceptual backbone of their diverse work was the search for seat and back forms that comfortably support the human body, using three dimensionally shaped surfaces or flexible materials instead of cushioned upholstery. An ethos of functionalism informed all of their furniture designs. "What works is better than what looks good," Ray said. "The looks good can change, but what works, works." Although, 60 years later we find that the looks were comparable to the function.

Riot and Sollier are also designers of the Icon Concept a project which they have completed in 2008 and it has been pre-selected by the VIA (French agency for the valorization of innovation in furnishing) for the 2010 Creation Assistance Grants. Their project refers to the traditional aesthetic of a bedside lamp in which a Yin Yang touch was added. Both parts of this lamp are made by thermoforming plastic from a single mould.

Design seems to be evolving, and I guess we’re for it! After all, *design is to share.*