Seating for Eating: Roche Bobois’s design competition at Parsons

French furniture company Roche Bobois presented a challenge to the savvy students of New York City's Parsons School of Design: create furniture with the theme "Seating for Eating" in mind. Sixteen teams of two participated, attempting to add their own spin to the dining room chair—experimenting with everything from adaptability to form. Every two years, the company selects one university from around the world and invites its students to enter a competition to design and prototype functional, full-scale furniture. The company's mission is simple: to find emerging design talent and give young designers exposure during the early stages of their careers.

This past December, participants presented their concepts to a panel of judges. First place was awarded to two teams: Weiran Chen and George Plionis of the MFA Industrial Design program for their "Cairn" stone chair, composed of three round cushions of varying size, and to Lorraine Chen and Po Yuan Wang from the BFA Product Design program for their "Plus One" extendable chair that transforms from a single seat to bench. Two members of the MFA Industrial Design program, Liujingzi Jiang and Lee Chi-Hao, took home second place for their "Asy" yellow asymmetrical chair. The prizes will not only give these rising designers public recognition, but will also provide an opportunity to to be considered for potential retail manufacturing as part of Roche Bobois's Fall–Winter 2018 collection.

Don't miss the chance to see all sixteen designs in person during this year's NYCxDesign at an exhibition hosted at Roche Bobois's Madison Avenue showroom from May 10 to the 23.