The A.I. Chair

The first chair designed with the help of artificial intelligence.

Recently launched at Salone del Mobile in Milan, the new A.I. chair marks a world’s first. Designed for Italian contemporary furniture brand Kartell, the chair features the first collaboration between a designer and artificial intelligence. To create the chair, renowned designer Philippe Starck used a prototype software developed by Autodesk. The generative design software required the designer’s input to trigger a process of learning. Philippe Starck described the process as similar to having a conversation.

Using minimal material, the prototype software took into consideration comfort and stability as well as style. The chair follows both the designer’s and Kartell’s design principles, in a collaborative project between the furniture brand, Starck, and Autodesk’s software. “This is a research collaboration at the pinnacle of the industrial design world, resulting in one of the most creative outcome we’ve ever tried to achieve with generative design,” explains Mark Davis, senior director of design futures at Autodesk.

Surprisingly organic for a product created with the help of A.I., the chair boasts short armrests and elegant lines. Finally, the furniture company uses an injection molding technique to craft this innovative series of chairs. Kartell will launch the A.I. chair in the brand’s showrooms at the beginning of summer 2019. Photographs© Kartell.