Ensconce’s No-Waste Cello Chair

Ensconce launched last year, as its name implies, to sell its line of industrial-flavored lighting. But in order to take a load off while waiting in the company’s ICFF booth, designer Robert Dombraski decided to feed his yen for designing furniture. The Cello Chair was born.

The chair looks loopy for a reason. And that reason is green. A single piece of Baltic birch is water-jet-cut around its perimeter; the main slab is used for a tabletop, the remaining loops are used to produce the chairs. In other words, no waste.

The loop shape permits the components to be placed atop one another and to rest on themselves, precluding the need for hardware. The fabric seat “ties the pieces together, and creates tension” says Dombraski, to give it extra firmness.

And by the way, Ensconce is still doing lighting. This year, the company premiers its Candela Luce chandelier. But it does so from the comfort of a sitting position.