The seat has drawn lots of attention in the blogsphere over the last few weeks. I wonder what draws people’s attention to it? Are they interested because the seat is different? Do they imagine how they’d use the seat in their living spaces? Would it solve a problem, i.e. maximizing seating room when visitors call around? Does its attaction lie in letting people realise aspirations of designing and building their own furniture?

From the videos it looks like the range of possible physical designs is limited but it is very very easy to reshape. As we move towards smarter materials, such as shape memory alloys, can we retain that ease of alteration? The flipside of ease of alteration is there’ll need to be some way of locking things into a shape.

Bean bags are an example of a readily reshapable seat that has no shape memory. I’ve a bean bag at home and every now and then I find that sweet spot where its really comfortable and feels fitted to my body shape. When I get up I know that by the time I return to the bean bag it’ll have “forgotten” my shape. This makes me loath getting up. Though a potentially beneficial side effect of the shape forgetfulness is a form of subtly enforced stillness and calmness.

What a lovely idea – a simple and elegant way of shaping the functional design of such a common tool. The handle, cup and stems are separate components which you connect as you choose.

How far can the idea of producing small lego-like parts be pushed? What are the limitations and problems posed by pre-made sub-components?

I’d imagine it’d be much easier to mis-place disconnected handles and cups. Though if there is a generic connector you could easily replace the missing parts. If you had the parts long enough you’d end up with a number of different styles built up over the years, with associated stories and memories. Mix and match as the mood strikes you.

Of course when you chip a handle, cup or stem you no longer need to replace the whole cup. Hmmm, are certain parts of cups more prone to chipping? Would it be possible to design a cup where the chippable locations are easily replaced? Cafes and restaurants would no longer order whole cups. With it be worth the cost?

Found via apartment therapy

Update: Snaps Cups were created by Angela Schwab of INV / ALT design.