X50 Chair by Taku Kumazawa
Davis Furniture is excited to announce the introduction of the X50 Chair. Designed by Taku Kumazawa, one of Japan’s most acclaimed eco-designers, the X50 Chair combines comfort, functionality and sustainability in its sleek, minimalistic design. This high-density stacking solution, licensed from axona AICHI, is now available for the US contract furniture market.
Available in armless chairs, counter height stools, and bar height stool variants, each of X50’s seats and backs are crafted from 100% recycled materials that are UV stable. The series showcases an innovative use of thermoplastic polypropylene, providing a slightly “springy” seat that adapts to the user. Designed for everything from brief to prolonged-use applications, this series unequivocally adapts to the user’s body, providing ultimate comfort within its sleek silhouette. Its outstanding seating comfort, extremely lightweight nature, and exceptional stacking capability make it a versatile and sustainable choice for various settings, from large assemblies to small meetings and everything in between.
Taku Kumazawa, the designer behind the X50, emphasized four essential factors for this stacking chair’s design: comfort, high stacking capacity, lightweight and sustainability. The X50 Chair achieves all these elements through the innovative development of a flexible material for the seat and back. This new combination of elastomeric polymers took Taku’s design team and supplier over three years of development to establish the perfect combination for end-user comfort and large-scale manufacturability.
“The X50 stacking chair is a design achievement hidden in simplicity. Its elastic seat automatically adjusts to the user’s body distribution, providing unparalleled intuitive comfort without the need for adjustments.” – Taku Kumazawa.
X50 was named after the chair’s unique functionality, allowing it to stack up to 50 chairs high in its stacking trolley and up to 20 on the floor, far surpassing typical stacking chairs. Furthermore, the X50 Chair’s lightweight, razor-thin construction, weighing less than 10 lbs, effortlessly meets the international durability standards of BIFMA. Reflecting a commitment to ecological concepts and sustainability, X50’s simple construction enables easy disassembly for on-site repairing and the eventual recycling of all its materials, contributing to a better future for the planet.
X50 is available in four shell colors (Ivory, Steel, Blue and Black) and features a chrome or powder coated steel frame. The frame can be specified in matching powder coat finishes as well as over 30 of Davis’ additional powder coat hues ranging from simple neutrals to lustrous pearls to Davis’ vibrant Color Trends. Balancing this visual appeal with sustainability, Kumazawa added, “Our 100% recycled polypropylene pure pre-consumer waste by-product used in X50s seat and back is comparable to virgin materials, allowing us to produce products in a range of colors, including the light Ivory.”
The X50 Chair is poised to significantly impact meeting, conference, and training rooms, offering a perfect blend of flexibility, compact stacking, and sustainable design.
Born in Japan, Taku Kumazawa was encouraged by his father, an industrial designer, to explore creativity and design since he was a boy. Having later studied industrial product design at the Nagoya University of Arts, Taku began to merge his passion for design with an interest in sustainability and product life cycles. In 1994, he joined axona AICHI, where he continued researching and developing his passion for ecological design thinking. Since 2011, Taku has led the product development of axona AICHI, allowing him to work through design concepts that combine functional beauty with a minimalist, clean, environmentally-conscious design. Taku’s work has been recognized with over 50 prestigious honors in Europe and the US, including the red dot, IF, German Design Award Design and Best of NeoCon awards.
Founded in 1944, Davis Furniture is a leading voice in the contract furniture industry focused on placing Design at the center of every initiative while looking to the future of the workplace. Davis offers cutting-edge, innovative and aesthetically pleasing products designed and manufactured to benefit the functionality of the user and the interior. This fourth-generation, family-operated company continues to maintain the highest corporate integrity, a devoted loyalty to its customers and a never-ending dedication to design.
