Breakthrough technology from Covestro and Arcesso Dynamics used to create design chair

Covestro, a leading polymer manufacturer, and Arcesso Dynamics, a manufacturer of custom polyurethane parts, have used their breakthrough Arfinio^® technology to realize a chair system by designer Thomas Schnur. As the first application in furniture, the Arfinio^® chair demonstrates the technology’s potential to revolutionize the sector by enabling lighter, truly seamless furniture with organic and clean shapes that bring together construction, function, and shape to increase visual and physical quality. Covestro will introduce the technology and showcase the chair at the K 2022 plastics trade show from October 19 to 26 in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Furniture designers face limitations when working with traditional solid-surface materials. Individual pieces must be cut and glued together – a long, labor-intensive, and expensive process that makes creating complex shapes impractical.

Arfinio^® provides a solution to this challenge by combining reaction injection molding (RIM) with aliphatic polyurethane chemistry – previously considered impossible. The resulting material has the look and feel of a solid-surface material but can be produced in one piece. This enables truly seamless pieces with far fewer design restrictions; the mold can simply be adjusted to the desired shape.

The design chair is lightweight, enabling the use of less material per piece. Because of its truly seamless nature and strong resistance properties, it is also more durable. Next to this, it has excellent haptics and is warm to the touch. Finally, as a monomaterial, Arfinio^® can be milled and reintroduced into new products at the end of its lifetime, helping furniture manufacturers to close the loop and reduce industry waste.

Joan Miquel García Martinez, Senior Project Manager Covestro: "This design chair is another milestone for Arfinio^®. We hope it shows designers the possibilities that this technology can bring to furniture, and we’re looking forward to partnering with them to bring these new designs to life! Together with Arcesso, we’ll continue to bring the benefits to a wide range of industries, providing an innovative solution to the challenges created by traditional solid-surface materials."

Thomas Schnur, Thomas Schnur Design Office: "Covestro and Arcesso’s new material opens extensive new furniture design possibilities. The chair using Arfinio^® technology is lighter and stronger than would be possible using traditional solid-surface materials; it allows designers to fuse construction, function, and form like nature does. I’m interested to see how designers will use these benefits in other furniture and product applications!"