Bio-composite chair debuts

A new chair by Veronica Olariu will go on view at Isola’s “No Space for Waste” exhibition during Milan Design Week, using hemp fabric and pineapple-leaf fibre in a load-bearing composite. (designboom.com) Olariu’s project, called Hemp Chair, is scheduled for Isola Design Festival 2026, which runs from April 20 to April 26 in Milan. Isola’s official programme lists “No Space for Waste” as part of that festival, and Fuorisalone says the 2026 edition includes more than 250 international designers, studios, and brands. (isola.design) (fuorisalone.it) The chair does not rely on bulky legs or heavy framing to stay upright. Designboom reports that its stability comes from counterbalance and tension, with curved composite shells and slender wooden rods making the structural forces visible. (designboom.com) Those shells are made from layered hemp fabric with a core of pineapple-leaf felt, turning crop-based fibres into a rigid seat form. Olariu’s project page says the chair follows an earlier “Counterpoise Chair” and extends the same structural idea through what she calls a different “material ethics.” (designboom.com) (veronicaolariu.com) Pineapple-leaf fibre is one of a growing group of plant reinforcements used in composites, where fibres work like rebar inside a matrix to stiffen a part without adding much weight. Recent reviews and lab studies say pineapple-leaf fibre has drawn attention for lightweight composite applications because of its mechanical properties and agricultural-waste origin. (sciencedirect.com) (nature.com) Hemp is used for the same reason: it is a plant fibre that can reinforce composite parts while cutting reliance on glass or carbon fibre in some applications. A 2026 study on green rubber composites found that combining hemp and pineapple-leaf fibres improved interface and mechanical performance in layered bio-based materials. (pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) Isola’s 2026 festival is framing that material shift as part of a larger circular-design push. Its “No Space for Waste” exhibition is billed as a showcase for objects made from discarded or low-impact materials, while other festival coverage says the section is now in its third edition and focused on market-ready work. (isola.design) (designdiffusion.com) Olariu’s chair pushes that conversation past material substitution alone. Her own project site describes it as “a tensile structure made inhabitable,” and a companion film shot in Thailand shows the piece treated as a body-scale structure as much as a conventional seat. (thehempchair.com) (vimeo.com) That is the point of this debut in Milan: not just that the chair is made from plant fibres, but that the fibres are doing visible structural work in a form built around balance, pull, and posture. (designboom.com)