Design

YouGoods: Buckle Up for the Seatbelt Chair

May 13, 2010

“I’m in the pursuit of happiness and I know
Everything that shine ain’t always gonna be gold
I’ll be fine once I get it, I’ll be good”

These are the Kid Cudi lyrics that Adam Barron — the winner of our YouGoods Vintage Vehicle Challenge — lives by. And with his spunky, take-charge attitude you better buckle your seatbelts because this guy isn’t planning on slowing down!

adam barron seat belt chair

Made of steel and junkyard seatbelts (don’t worry, he washed them!), Adam’s winning design, the eye-catching Seatbelt Chair, was a project originally created for an industrial design course at the University of Cincinnati where he had to incorporate 3 of 5 Japanese design principles: humor, craftsmanship, compactness, asymmetry and simplicity.

Seat belt chair

As Adam tells us, the final product was a result of trial and error, “When I originally designed this chair, I designed the shape of the frame before I chose to use seat belts. My original plan was to make the chair out of large sheets of bent plywood, but based on time, money, material, and space restraints, I had to consider other options. I wouldn’t say that I had a eureka moment, I just started exploring different materials, and wanted to use a thin and minimal material that would let the ergonomic research that I did on my frame speak for itself. ”

Seatbelt chair

No surprise to us, Adam received an A on the assignment! And it seems he made the grade with our Facebook fans and customers as well. The minute Adam’s design hit Facebook, the votes started flying in and he was the clear winner from day one — thanks in part to his own social networking.

“I was extremely excited when I won the contest! I was thrilled to even be chosen as a finalist, so as soon as I found out that I was, I sent out a message to all of my family and friends on Facebook and asked them to vote for me. It was really cool to see how much support I got, especially from friends that I hadn’t talked to for a long time. Another cool thing about the voting on Facebook was that people were really excited for me, so they all spread the word to their friends, family, co-workers, and classmates to get me more votes. ”

The seatbelt chair is now in the design and product development process at UncommonGoods. We hope to get it online and ready to purchase ASAP. And we hope to work with budding designer, Adam Barron, on future products. With his killer skills and a personality to match, we know this is not the last we will hear of Adam Barron.

******

On an unrelated note, I would also like to thank Adam for taking the time to answer my ridiculous
“If you could be any animal, which animal would you be” question.  It was just too thoughtful and cute not to post:)

“After much deliberation, I’ve decided that if I was any animal, I would be a lemur,” Adam says. “I came to this decision not just because they are amazing, ring-tailed, monkey-looking creatures, but we also have some social habits in common. They tend to hang out in groups of about 15 or less (thank you Wikipedia), and socialize in small groups. They also tend to be nocturnal, which I definitely am, and they love fruits. On top of that, they are very talented climbers and good at jumping through trees – both skills that I would love to have.”

Congrats to Adam!

9 Comments

  • Reply Martha Munson May 18, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    Please tell Adam to watch an episode of Zoboomafoo, a kids’ show on PBS and Sprout networks – it features both a real lemur and a puppet lemur. The Kratt brothers co-host the animal show with the lemur(s).

  • Reply Patricia Alsabrook May 18, 2010 at 7:19 pm

    WOW! This is so great! There are billions of these going no-place in junkyards. I love the style, the materials, and the imagination. My grade on his invention is A++. Congratulations

  • Reply Joan May 19, 2010 at 8:44 am

    What a fantastic chair! The look is terrifically modern. This chair would be a focal point and art piece in any room.

  • Reply nancy May 19, 2010 at 1:28 pm

    hope theyre affordable-i’ll take 2!

  • Reply Seatbelt Chair | Mozeaik May 22, 2010 at 10:27 am

    […] the winner of Uncommon Goods YouGoods contest won over the judges with his ingenious creation, the seatbelt chair. The challenge was to design a product using reclaimed auto parts, and Adam Barron delivered a […]

  • Reply Dawn May 23, 2010 at 11:47 pm

    I can’t decided which is cuter – the seatbelt chair or Adam!!

  • Reply Crystal May 25, 2010 at 6:11 pm

    I LOVE this chair! Put me on the notification list for when it’s ready to purchase and I also hope it’s affordable. I own a seatbelt bag by Harvey’s and I love the look and feel of the woven seatbelts. Good job Adam!

  • Reply goo October 16, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    Unfortunately the idea is not new. See:

    http://greenopolis.com/goblog/green-groove/7-cool-ways-recycle-seat-belts

    I think they should have googled 10 minutes before choosing a winner.

  • Reply Fasten Your 53 Seatbelts: The Seatbelt Chair by Adam Barron for Uncommon Goods | ArtRSS March 8, 2012 at 4:30 pm

    […] love sustainable products that reuse a material in a way that is a play on its past life. The Seatbelt Chair by Adam Barron does just that. By using the naturally strong belt material and the locking clasp, Barron weaves […]

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