Sustainable materials chair

A chair made from hemp fabric and pineapple-leaf fiber is headed to Milan Design Week, where Isola Design Festival is putting waste-based materials at the center of its 2026 program. (designboom.com) Designer Veronica Olariu calls the piece “Hemp Chair,” and her studio says it was developed in Thailand as a seating prototype built around tension instead of a hidden internal frame. Isola lists the project in its designer lineup for the festival’s April 20 to 26, 2026 edition in Milan. (veronicaolariu.com) (isola.design) The chair uses curved composite elements made with pineapple-leaf fiber and a hemp-fabric seat, with rope tension helping the parts hold their shape under load. Designboom said the work will appear in Isola’s “No Space for Waste” exhibition during the festival. (designboom.com) (isola.design) Pineapple-leaf fiber is made from leaves usually discarded after fruit harvest, then used as reinforcement inside a composite, which works like straw inside dried mud by helping a material stay light and resist bending. A 2025 review in *Scientific Reports* said pineapple-leaf-fiber biocomposites are being studied for their mechanical performance and fabrication methods. (nature.com) Hemp plays a similar role in design’s materials shift because it is a plant fiber used in textiles, panels, and composites instead of more energy-intensive inputs. Trade coverage from imm cologne says hemp’s long fibers and relatively undemanding cultivation have helped drive renewed interest in furniture and interiors. (imm-cologne.com) Isola’s 2026 theme is “TEN: The Evolving Now,” marking the festival’s tenth edition during Milan Design Week. Organizers and festival previews say this year’s program includes more than 250 international designers, studios, and brands, with sustainability and material research running through multiple exhibitions. (iconeye.com) (fuorisalone.it) The “No Space for Waste” show frames that push in direct terms: Isola says the exhibition focuses on objects made from discarded or low-impact materials for everyday use. That places Olariu’s chair inside a larger Milan showcase where the material itself is part of the design pitch. (isola.design) The result is less a conventional upholstered chair than a materials demonstration you can sit on. When the festival opens on April 20, the test for pieces like this will be whether plant fibers and waste-derived composites read as one-off experiments or as furniture materials ready for wider use. (designboom.com) (isola.design)