Painstakenly shaped,
and reshaped again.
"Shave it down to the absolute minimum"
Setu was created by the four designers of Studio 7.5 in Berlin, Germany: The Yogi, MacGyver, The Style Police, and the Master of Geometry. These are the affectionate nicknames of Claudia Plikat, Roland Zwick, Carola Zwick, and Burkhard Schmitz, who work together like a highly evolved organism—extremely lightweight, innovative, and eco-friendly. Their affectionate nickname for us is "the blueprint of the ideal client"—because of our long-term dedication to research, which they share.


The Kinematic Spine
Studio 7.5 built 35 fully functioning prototypes—the first model of the kinematic spine was a chain—before homing in on the final design of this chair. The spine, the heart of the chair, took a long time to develop. Before Setu, the seat and back of all kinematic chairs had to be separated and controlled with a hinge. But once Studio 7.5 had found the perfect material—polypropylene—and perfected the math and retooled the design over and over, they had the one-piece, flexible spine they had envisioned.
Inspired by nature with its spiraling shape and contours, this unique feature was perfected by technology. Every bend, every corner and every line were painstakingly shaped, reshaped, and reshaped again, to create a balance between support and flexibility that lets Setu adapt to everyone.

They retooled the design over and over, until they had the flexible spine they envisioned.

Inherent Environmental Concern
As to environmental issues, Claudia says, "It's inherent. We don't discuss it any more. It's part of our job to only design products that don't use up too much material or too much energy. We tried to shave it down to the absolute minimum." So the Setu chair weighs only 18 pounds. Less chair means less energy and material required to manufacture it. And it's 93 percent recyclable.