Mynt is a lifetime achievement to me

Vitra has developed the new Mynt chair in collaboration with designer Erwan Bouroullec. It contains a mechanism that promotes dynamic sitting in a unique new way. We spoke to Erwan about the design process and the special features of Mynt.

Vitra: If you had to explain Mynt in a few words, what would you say?

Erwan: Mynt is a very sustainable chair made from just a few components. It's a universal chair that fits in both offices and homes. It has an inviting elegance, and its mechanism pioneers a completely new type of dynamic sitting experience.

To touch on the last point, how did the idea for this mechanism come about?

The engineers at Vitra had an idea for the mechanism and designed the corresponding prototypes. But the innovative characteristics of this mechanism now had to be combined with a chair. Developing it was a huge challenge and it's truly a lifetime achievement for me to have Mynt launched.

This is because I still want to finish the overarching project for Vitra that I've been sharing for many years with my brother Ronan: it's about the ergonomics of entire spaces by designing everything, not just product ergonomics. Going back to the beginning with Joyn and then Alcove, the goal was to always keep the body in movement. You could always stand up and walk around, be in different positions. Moving your body, confronting it with many different situations is the best thing that you can do. The missing element in all of this was a task chair adapted to this all-encompassing space. And I think Mynt is not exactly ending the story, but filling a gap.

What's so special about this mechanism?

Typically, ergonomics have developed around the synchronised movement of seat and backrest. Now, the fascinating thing about Mynt is that we unlocked the movement of the seat in regards of the position of the backrest. So instead of having a number of preset positions, Mynt provides millions of postures that emerge naturally from our activity or mood. Your body naturally controls the chair. That's what we do all the time when we're on a bike, when we're surfing, when we're walking down the stairs and so on.

Your body will always be in a different position all day long. If you apply pressure to the backrest, you can still angle the seat, which means that your body is engaged in a never-ending dynamic. It will never repeat the same movement. Your body is part of the mechanism. You steer the seat panel with your body and that's essential.

That sounds promising. But what were the difficulties in designing the right chair for this type of mechanism?

The design has an obvious foundation – the movement has defined the aesthetics of the chair. The briefing at the time was a chair that had to fit anyone, anywhere, anytime. So, apart from the fact that Mynt had to perform, it had to be inviting – inviting for any kind of person, any kind of task, at any time. When you work with ergonomics and functions, one of the dead ends of design is that the mechanics become more important than a certain elegance. But elegance is key to welcoming people. They want to discover and experience beauty. So, with Mynt, elegance and the mechanism had to go together.

Were there any other requirements that Mynt had to fulfil?

Manufacturing was a very important driving force. We took the 'bike approach' – like designing a bicycle. Everything is assembled with mechanical parts. There is no glue, no sandwich constructions, no parts that are linked in a typical kind of moulding. Everything is easily separable. And as a result, everything can easily be changed, repaired and updated. Just like a bike, where you can change parts very easily. If you want the conference version of the four-star base, you remove the castors and put some glides. If you want to switch from plywood to plastic or to textile or vice versa – you can do all of this in a very easy way. There is great simplicity in that all parts are exactly the right shape for the function they need to perform. There are no parts made to just add style. Everything adds to what the chair actually needs to be doing.

The interchangeability of parts also contributes to a product's longevity. Are there other sustainability arguments to be made for Mynt?

Yes, there are some further aspects. The aluminium used in the chair is recycled to the greatest possible extent. The seat and back shell of Mynt come in plywood and in recycled polyamide without fibreglass. That's key to being able to recycle the polyamide. If you use glass fibres, you can only downcycle the material. Without the fibres, the plastic can be reused.

Another example are the seat and back covers: the seat cushion is made of recyclable polyurethane foam – developed by Vitra and BASF as the world's first economically recyclable PU foam – and the back cushion is made of recycled polyester wadding. There's none of the usual gluing, stapling and the like. Users can add and remove the covers themselves with a few zips whenever they want, send them for cleaning and easily put them back on. Or if a company hires a new employee, they can simply replace the cover if someone has been using the chair for a few years. And by activating a switch, you can lock the chair. For instance, if you want to use it as a dining chair. The movement is then greatly reduced, which extends the range of applications even further.

All in all, I would say that Mynt has indeed become a universal chair, but you have to try it to understand what I'm saying about it.

Vitra:

Thank you, Erwan!