5-minute chair

On view at X-D-E-P-O-T
Shelf 12: Metal
DesignBerger, Ueli GND
Berger, Susi GND
Date Draft 1970
Date Execution 2011
ProductionSimon Stalder-Roth
DesignBerger, Ueli GND
Berger, Susi GND
Date Draft 1970
Date Execution 2011
ProductionSimon Stalder-Roth

This is a chair.
It is called 5-minute-chair.

You can build it in 5 minutes.
The chair is made of wire.

This chair is called 5-minute-chair, because you can build it in 5 minutes. The chair is made of chicken wire. That is a grid made of thin wire. Chicken wire is often used for low fences so that small animals cannot escape from their enclosure. The small animals could be rabbits or chickens, for example.

The designers Susi Berger and Ueli Berger from Switzerland designed the chair in 1970. They wanted to build a simple chair so that they could sit in the garden. The chair did not have to be a piece of art. It just had to be useful.

This is how you can build the chair yourself: 1. Get a chicken wire that is 314 centimetres long. 2. Bend the chicken wire in half. Then put the 2 halves on top of each other. And then bend the 2 ends towards each other. 3. Tie the ends together with a wire. This way, you get a tube with stitches. 4. Press the tube to create a dent in the front. This way, you get a seat and a back. 5. Fix the seat with wire. 6. Finally, bend the edge of the back a bit backwards.

  • Design sketch 5-minute chair, 1970
    © Zürcher Hochschule der Künste / Museum für Gestaltung Zürich / Designsammlung

Further detail

DesignBerger, Ueli GND
Berger, Susi GND
ProductionSimon Stalder-Roth
Place of productionBodenflüeli, Switzerland
Size Height: 79.5 cm, seat height: 42.5 cm, width: 57 cm, depth: 51 cm
MaterialWire mesh, Tailored
GenreFurniture
Inventory no862/2011
AccessionDonation Susi Berger / Ueli Berger

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