THE CHAIR: the Parupu

AMIDST ALL THE excitement, hype, paninis, bellinis and footsoreness that are guaranteed at the Milan Furniture Fair this week, there’s a chair to look out for that’s already of note. Chairs are two a penny at each year’s fair, but this one is a little special - and it’s for kids.

The Parupu stands out not just because it has been designed by Scandinavia’s design royalty, Claesson Koivisto Rune, and not just because it’s made from eco wood pulp provided by manufacturer Södra. It’s super cute too, and is already up there with Enzo Mari’s Seggiolina Pop for Magis as a kids’ chair that ticks all the right boxes: great colour palette, so light the kids can move it themselves (or create houses and play structures), super sturdy and user-friendly. Plus it’s stackable and biodegradable.

Made from a speciality pulp combined with PLA, a biodegradable plastic made from maize starch and cane sugar, the chair is the first to be fashioned from this eco-friendly, recyclable material that can replace plastic, is waterproof and is designed to last a whole childhood despite feeling and looking just like paper.  ”Parupu [from the Japanese for 'pulp'] has more or less designed itself - under our supervision,” says Mårten Claesson of Claesson Koivisto Rune. “We have added our skills and experience to the technical possibilities of the material.” Simple and clever. 

*Parupu by Södra, watch this space for distributors and retailers…