Industrial Design Case Study: An Office Chair with South American Sensibilities – Core77

When Colombian furniture company MUMA sought to produce a new office chair, they turned to ID consultancy Curve ID.

MUMA’s brief was both wide open and challenging: ‘Design a task chair to bolster market share in South America, whilst considering international expansion’. Our response needed to be ultra sensitive to the local market and manufacturing opportunities, yet also create interest in a crowded sector overseas.

The brief provided scope for all of our team’s talents to shine, allowing us to draw on our experience with international clients; to use our anthropological approach to research; to demonstrate our materials and manufacturing expertise; and showcase how we help analyze and create market categories.

In order to strengthen MUMA’s domestic success, we needed to develop the chair with true, local, South American input. From the initial user research through to investigation of the manufacturing facilities, everything took place on-site in South America.

One bonus of having access to local manufacturing facilities early in the process was the ability to incorporate efficient manufacturing techniques. A simplified one-piece seat back was developed knowing it could be properly molded in the local facility. This direct factory correspondence also helped immensely with the development of the chair’s support skeleton, which was particularly crucial when using a complex resin such as Hytrel RS by DuPont™.

The result? “Ingo” – a stylish, multi-functional, ergonomically high-end task chair that clever design and manufacturing will see priced in the mid-range category. Ingo is already gaining huge sales interest in its home market, but is also proving to have universal appeal.

You can see more of Curve ID’s work here.