Our first learning here is that the chair is called the Monobloc. Good start.
We didn’t know the name but we have definitely seen it all over the UAE. At bike tracks, on farms, in formal settings, peoples houses, concerts and most places in between. We’ve sat on them, stood on them, had them crack when leaning back on them, stacked them and tried to hide them.

Through a recent, wide open and wandering project discussion around objects that defined an identity, we started talking about those basic white plastic chairs we see all around us. Here in Abu Dhabi, as in a great many other places it seems, they have become part of the vernacular, a mass produced plastic icon of identity, for the good and the bad.
And for all our love of Vitra, Eames, Artek etc etc, of good design and innovation, the Monobloc dicussion is a very interesting swing to the other side of the chair design spectrum where a mass-produced, super simple chair has somehow come to represent functionality and practicality more than most others. It’s conquered the world and that’s a pretty powerful thing to be able to say about an everyday object.

And now, via MoMA of all places, we have a name and a story to put to the plastic fantastic seat of dreams.

Bonus video with even more info on the Monobloc.

Here’s a few random snaps of trhe Monobloc in action around Abu Dhabi.