Hemp + pineapple fiber chair

A chair built from hemp fabric and pineapple-leaf fiber is headed to Milan Design Week 2026, where designer Veronica Olariu will show it in Isola’s No Space for Waste exhibition. (designboom.com) Olariu’s prototype, called Hemp Chair, uses two curved shells made from layered hemp fabric and a core of pineapple-leaf felt. It is designed to work in two positions, upright and reclined, with the shells guiding how the body sits. (designboom.com) The structure does not rely on bulk or heavy legs to stay stable. A hemp rope stretches between slender wooden supports and holds the composite shells in balance through tension, leaving the load-bearing system visible. (designboom.com) Pineapple-leaf fiber is made from leaves left behind after harvest, turning farm residue into textile or composite feedstock. In Thailand, where Olariu developed the chair, producers and researchers have been building supply chains around pineapple leaves as an agricultural by-product rather than a new crop. (designboom.com, nextevo.one) The shells were made with resin transfer molding, a process that injects resin into a sealed mold around dry fibers. Closed-mold systems are used because they give more consistent parts and can cut waste and emissions compared with open-mold fabrication. (designboom.com, discovercomposites.com) Olariu said the current prototype still uses epoxy resin, while later versions are being developed toward fully bio-based resin systems. That means the chair’s plant-fiber story is real, but the material stack is not yet fully bio-based. (designboom.com) The piece will appear during Isola Design Festival’s tenth edition, which runs from April 20 to 26, 2026, in Milan’s Isola district. Isola says No Space for Waste is back for a third year and is focused on circular design, production control, and the reuse of discarded or underused resources. (archiproducts.com, inexhibit.com) That puts the chair in a part of Milan Design Week where material choices are part of the argument, not just the finish. Isola’s 2026 program centers on material research and emerging practices, with Fabbrica Sassetti returning as the festival’s main venue. (archiproducts.com, fuorisalone.it) Olariu links Hemp Chair to an earlier project called Counterpoise Chair, describing the new version as the same structural idea pursued with different material ethics. In Milan, the test is whether a chair that shows every rope, shell, and support can make plant-based composites look precise rather than improvised. (veronicaolariu.com, designboom.com)