Bronze Furniture Design · 2025
Marka Multifunctional Chair
- A' Design Award 2025 Bronze Winner in Furniture Design
- Awarded April 15, 2025
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 18,207
- Verification code B15D61E5A1 · Verify this award
About Marka Multifunctional Chair
Introducing the Modular Armrest, a seating solution for two that effortlessly converts into a legless chair without screws or glue. This playful design encourages dynamic seating arrangements and a healthy lifestyle. Inspired by the camel saddle used by Bedouin nomads, it blends cultural heritage with modern aesthetics. Ideal for both indoor and outdoor use, especially in regions like the Middle East and Asia, this piece fosters social interaction and comfort, inviting users to enjoy communal seating in a fun and engaging way.
Adel Alserhani's Marka Multifunctional Chair participates in the rich lineage of transformable and modular furniture design that extends from the space-conscious innovations of mid-twentieth-century modernism through contemporary explorations of adaptable domestic environments, addressing the perennial design challenge of creating furnishings that accommodate diverse human activities and spatial constraints without sacrificing aesthetic coherence or material quality. The compositional achievement demonstrates sophisticated understanding of variation within a constrained formal vocabulary, as each configuration—from compact cubic ottomans to extended reclining loungers—appears to derive from a unified geometric and material system, suggesting an underlying structural intelligence that permits radical formal transformation while maintaining visual family resemblance through consistent edge treatment, proportional relationships, and chromatic identity. The color palette selection exhibits particular accomplishment, eschewing neutral grays or blacks in favor of warm earth tones that evoke natural materials such as terracotta clay, vegetable-tanned leather, and organic textiles, a chromatic strategy that imbues the industrial design object with sensory warmth and psychological approachability while allowing the saturated hues to function as compositional elements that organize the visual field and guide viewer attention across the arrayed configurations. The presentation method itself warrants consideration, as the elevated white platforms create a gallery-like display environment that invites contemplation of the chair as sculptural object worthy of aesthetic appreciation beyond mere utilitarian function, a framing gesture that positions domestic furniture within the tradition of design-as-art and suggests the designer's intention that formal beauty and transformational ingenuity merit sustained visual attention. The system appears to explore fundamental questions about the relationship between furniture and body, investigating how a single design architecture might accommodate the full range of human resting positions—upright sitting, reclined lounging, floor-level meditation, ottomanal foot support—through geometric reconfiguration rather than mechanical adjustment, an approach that suggests influence from origami-inspired folding principles and the transformable furniture traditions emerging from space-constrained environments. The soft-edged, fully upholstered treatment represents a deliberate choice favoring tactile comfort and visual warmth over structural expression, fully enveloping any internal framework beneath continuous padded surfaces that prioritize human contact over material or technical display, a design philosophy aligned with user-centered approaches that place bodily experience and psychological comfort at the heart of functional object creation. The earth-tone chromatic range may reference vernacular craft traditions, natural dyeing practices, or the material palette of pre-industrial domestic environments, connecting contemporary furniture innovation to longer historical continuities of shelter, rest, and human-scaled comfort objects, while simultaneously the saturated color blocking and sculptural arrangement suggest dialogue with color field painting and minimalist sculpture's investigation of how simple geometric forms in bold hues occupy and activate space. One might contemplate how this design system negotiates the tension between standardization and customization, offering predetermined configurations that nonetheless accommodate individual preference through selection and arrangement, inviting consideration of how contemporary domestic life increasingly values flexibility, adaptation, and the efficient use of limited space without foregoing aesthetic pleasure or material quality, and how furniture design continues to evolve in response to changing patterns of habitation, work, and rest within the contemporary home.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Modular armrest for two persons could convert into legless chair without any use of screws or glue giving the user the ability to change positions in a healthy and fun way of assembling .The design is a modern floor seating inspired by camel saddle that have been use as an an armrest when bedouin nomads settle . Marka could be use as an outdoor furniture and as an indoor in another regions such as middle-east and asia where floor seating is more common.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- - Panel (A) H:50cm - W:50
- Panel (B) H:50 - W:40
- Cover : consist of three padded section connected by hidden level adjustable joinery .
- Triangular Pillow
First position (marka) : can be slides into each other as an X shape to be floor armrest .
Second Position ( legless chair ) : insert Panel B into Panel A to have legless chair and by using the padded cover and the triangular shaped pillow you have the ability to change between various body positions - Tags
- Floor seating , Cultural Furniture , Modular furniture , Lightweight, recycled, recyclable, suitable, cosy , Creative, innovative,
- Production Technology
- Keeping the flow of organic multi uses of this ancient furniture the designer intention is to develop from natural and recycled composite materials to reserved this amazing connection and harmony between land and humanity that trace back to the main inspiration of this design . the base of the piece will be made of 100% recycled and recyclable polypropylene recovered from local furniture production waste and the local auto- motive industry.
- Design Challenge
- Living in a massive and vast city such as Riyadh, with a population of almost 8 million, I have noticed a growing sense of loneliness among individuals. This might be due to the booming economy and rapid development across all sectors. However, it social effects have become more noticeable, with people feeling a sense of strangeness and not belonging. In our pursuit of progress, we must not forget the importance of maintaining the social fabric that binds us.To address this, we need to foster sharing and caring through genuine human interaction, reclaiming the sense of community that has always been a cornerstone of our identity. The motive behind this design challenge is not to force change but to provide a solution to this social phenomenon within an everyday product that everyone needs.
- Project Duration
- Project started in September 2023 in Riyadh - Saudi Arabia . The prototypes started in early 2024.
- Operation Flow
- The First position of Marka is a call to have a dialogue with the others while the second position gives the modern need to have a moment for the individual .
- Research
- The product sparks from Social and Behavioral Research that aims to explore the shift in social norms and traditions within Arab societies, focusing on the contrast between historical communal lifestyles and the contemporary situation. The study examines how these changes impact individual behavior and social well-being.the main goal is to Design an everyday object that encourages social interaction and strengthens the sharing spirit in ones life. This project should seamlessly integrate into daily life, promoting genuine connections and a sense of belonging.The research method form Marka was in Arab Literature and archived images and paintings from Orientalists on the other hand I ran few social studies on social media and public spaces and verbal interviews to have a sense of the general atmosphere among society and I noticed the following :
Economic Pressures: The pursuit of economic success and the demands of modern careers have shifted focus from communal to individual goals
Technology and Social Media: While these have connected people globally, they often contribute to physical isolation and superficial interactions.
mpact on Individuals:
Social Isolation: The weakening of traditional social networks can lead to feelings of loneliness and alienation.
Mental Health: Increased stress and mental health issues are linked to the loss of community support.
Identity and Belonging: Rapid cultural changes can lead to a crisis of identity and a diminished sense of belonging. - Inspiration
- In revisiting our visual memory, the bedouin lifestyle emerges as a profound influence on the concept of Marka. Constant traveling was not just a way of living it was a celebration of freedom, encapsulated by exploration and following the unknown. This Bedouin spirit manifested in the practical use of the design multipurpose, lightweight, and easy to transport.Originally, Marka used as a saddlery for camel riding. However, when bedouin communities settled, Marka transformed into a furniture piece . From this concept of multifunction and modularity I found the bridge that links this rooted product to a contemporary product all in one design .
Colors of Marka Multifunctional Chair
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G0E23 ShopGrand Interview about Marka Multifunctional Chair
For Marka part of the first step of the design was to make " what the culture needs " and from there it start to evolve around the question of " How the culture used to be?" from there the process start to be more of linking needs and applying creative ways of approaching the form and function of the design . It was an organic yet magical state of mind doing the design .
I always had interest in modular design , even the DIY ones and I mean the pre-historic human objects and how it evolves from using animals bones to spray paint on cave's wall , to the evolving of chair and ways of setting .The intention of the design was to try to keep it evolved around the modularity which is the same intentions for Bedouins at the begining , and the process after that was trying to make it happen by trying that on 3D softwares and prototypes .
As Riyadh expands and grows busier, people seek to escape the city’s noise by camping under the moonlight in the desert. Marka offers a solution by serving as both indoor and outdoor furniture, allowing it to accompany people into the desert and be part of their moments of retreat.
As a designer, I believe our responsibility extends beyond aesthetics and function; it includes finding solutions that positively impact people and the environment. For me, design is not just a career but a commitment to addressing challenges around us, including environmental concerns. This mindset shapes my approach to every project, ensuring that I contribute to a more thoughtful, sustainable future through design.
Coming from a region now engaging with the world across many sectors, I believe sharing our culture is essential. But it’s the middle ground that matters when exporting culture: you need to share both the raw authentic layers and the redefined objects inspired by the culture. This is exactly what I aim to achieve with my design work bridging our heritage with contemporary expressions to connect meaningfully with others.
It’s a playful yet defining piece within the design. The triangular pillow creates a sense of juxtaposition, inviting the user to question its purpose and encouraging them to place it in different positions based on their comfort and convenience.
I hope that it help designer from my region and other region to start visiting the roots of the object they have or used to have so we can provide more unique and creative to the people .
As Riyadh expands and grows busier, people seek to escape the city’s noise by camping under the moonlight in the desert. Marka offers a solution by serving as both indoor and outdoor furniture, allowing it to accompany people into the desert and be part of their moments of retreat.
The adjustable joinery reflects the core intention of the design. It holds the pieces together when used as an armrest while also providing padding for the body. When transformed into a chair, it plays a crucial role by supporting weight, reducing the reliance on solid parts alone.
I think that comes from my work as a film production designer where I work with a lot of the object and furniture from my culture whether that comes from research different periods or designing and putting them on set to serve the story .