Ben Brooks
Portfolio
Rock and Roll Chair
During the exploration of my thesis project at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), I designed and built this dynamic rolling chair made with solid steel rod and upholstered foam cushions. The chair was designed so that all three platforms function equally well as seats or as backs. It enables a wide variety of seating positions and user experiences. The rolling geometry allows you to rotate a full 360°, reversing the angles of the seat and back as you make it to the bottom of the rotation. However, because of its geometry, it can be used as a relatively stationary seating option as well. It is a piece of furniture that becomes its own being, a being that you fight with at first, then play with as you learn its ways. This chair project allowed me to explore the relationship between the maker and the user, and I was surprised by the vastly different ways people interacted with it.