Hemp chair debuts in Milan

Designer Veronica Olariu will present a hemp-and-pineapple-fiber chair at Milan Design Week 2026, using plant materials as part of the load-bearing structure. (designboom.com) The project, called *Hemp Chair*, is scheduled for the No Space for Waste exhibition at the Isola Design Festival during Milan Design Week, which runs from April 20 to 26, 2026. (designboom.com) Instead of hiding a heavy internal frame, the chair uses curved composite shells, slender wooden supports, and a hemp rope stretched in tension to stay balanced. Olariu’s studio says the piece works through “forces rather than parts,” with the surface itself acting as structure. (designboom.com) (veronicaolariu.com) The seat shells are made from layered hemp fabric wrapped around a core of pineapple-leaf felt, turning agricultural by-products into a rigid composite. Designboom reported that the material was developed with material engineer Dr. Jariyavadee Sirichantra in Thailand. (designboom.com) The shells are fabricated with resin transfer molding, a closed-mold process that pushes resin through fibers to make a consistent part with less waste than open layup methods. The current prototype still uses epoxy resin, while Olariu says development is continuing toward fully bio-based resin systems. (designboom.com) Milan Design Week is one of the design industry’s biggest annual stages, and the 2026 city program runs alongside the 64th Salone del Mobile. The City of Milan said the week will take place across the city from April 20 to 26. (comune.milano.it) (servizi.comune.milano.it) Isola Design is marking its 10th year in Milan in 2026, with the festival running under the theme “TEN: The Evolving Now.” Its No Space for Waste showcase is framed around objects made from discarded or lower-impact materials. (isola.design 1) (isola.design 2) Olariu, whom Isola identifies as a Bucharest-born multidisciplinary artist and architect, has described the chair as “a tensile structure made inhabitable.” In Milan, that idea will be tested in public as a chair that treats fiber, rope, and body weight as the main engineering system. (isola.design) (veronicaolariu.com)