Ahrend 360—A top seat for innovation and sustainable design
Ahrend FZCO—the expert in the field of flexible eco-friendly furnishing solutions and the efficient use of commercial space – reveals the Ahrend 360, an environmentally-sustainable, ultra-light chair to the Middle Eastern market.
Ahrend’s LEED-compliant head office in the Jebel Ali Free Zone is just part and parcel of the company’s vision of becoming the CO2-neutral furniture manufacturer, Nima Ranjbar, General Manager, Ahrend FZCO explains: “Incorporating environmental practices, and developing green products is no longer a goal companies should consider and implement in the future; at Ahrend, we think it is a necessity of our present day. We are looking at our responsibility to the environment as a mainstay in our business operations, organizing our company’s best business practices in accordance with our environmental strategy as well as increasing demand in the region for eco-friendly designs that also economize on costly commercial space.”
A fresh and modern design by the Dutch design company, Flex the INNOVATIONLAB, the Ahrend 360 frame is made of magnesium obtained partly from sea water. Magnesium is 30% lighter than aluminium and has a lower melting point, which is a benefit to the environment. The magnesium frame makes the Ahrend 360 an ultra-light chair. All joints are screwed and not bent, welded or glued. After the first production stage (forming ‘tubes’ from the base material) no further machining processes are therefore required. This is better for the production time, costs, energy consumption and thus for the environment. In its basic form, Ahrend 360 consists of only six components: four legs, a frame and a seat. The chair can be easily fitted with arm rests. As a standard feature, the chair is available with a polypropylene seat, but it can also be produced with a wooden shell. Even with this somewhat heavier wooden seat, the weight of the Ahrend 360 remains less than six kilos.
Because the Ahrend 360 is so lightweight and has an uncomplicated design, it can be stacked upright and linked, both with and without arm rests. It is partly this link-ability that makes the chair highly suitable as a conference chair. Stacking and moving the chair is very simple due to its low weight. The chair can also be used in schools, in company cafeterias, and meeting and conference locations. Home and office environments can also find the Ahrend 360 an optimum solution due to its refreshing design.
Jeroen Verbrugge from Flex the INNOVATIONLAB comments: “The challenge for us was to find a combination of aesthetics along with a wide range of application and durability—a chair is often either one or the other, but the Ahrend 360 is a successful symbiosis of all these things. It is a pleasant looking chair with a striking line which also complies with requirements in the ergonomic and durability fields. This is expressed, for example, in our choice of magnesium, which is still an unusual material in the office furniture industry.”
The Ahrend 360 can be obtained in numerous colours and finishes to suit a variety of business needs. Five varnishes are available for the frame; the seat bowl can be supplied in both beechwood and polypropylene in seven surprising pastel tints. The seat bowl can also be produced in oak (two colours). The colour composition of frame and seat bowl is ‘tone-on-tone’.
Ahrend helps people to work professionally, productively, and with pleasure by creating strikingly attractive, functional and agreeable work, study and living environments.
