Velce’s Active Stool to launch at Denfair
Velce’s Active Stool is being launched this week at Denfair in Melbourne 8-10 June as part of the Front Centre exhibit, representing New South Wales design.
Anna and Ricardo, Velce’s founders, have spent the last two years researching sitting and seating and why ergonomic seating, despite the growing realisation that traditional seating can have negative effects on our health, is scarcely being adopted, even less so beyond the office environment.
Their research shows that a significant barrier to the wider adoption of ergonomic furniture to date are perceptions of it being office-like, bulky, heavy and not aesthetically pleasing. Their intention was to create a stool that would improve wellbeing while complementing everyday living spaces.
The couple work from their home studio in Sydney designing, making and curating Velce’s collection, which is now in its third year. Velce is all about celebrating, inspiring and encouraging more physical movement through movement-centric design.
The Velce Active Stool, with its curved base, encourages healthy posture and gentle movement. Its concept is inspired by the way children innately rock onto the two front legs of their chairs, instinctively trying to maintain the natural curvature of the spine and find ways to move.
Handcrafted with the upmost attention to quality and detail, the Active Stool is made from sustainable timbers and finished with natural oils and waxes. Its ergonomic concept is very similar to a Swiss Ball, allowing movement side-to-side, forward and back, diagonally and even twisting while seated.
The couple have also partnered with a manufacturing company to make the next version of the stool, Velce Active Stool Layers (made from plywood), with the intention of making larger runs to reduce costs and hence retail value. This next model will be launched next month on Kickstarter and Indiegogo, two crowdfunding campaigns, available for pre-order at a discounted price.
Anna and Ricardo are on a journey with Velce to recreate and create pieces and experiences that support the body and mind – saying that they “want our human-made world that is designed by us to also be designed for us.”
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