Conceptualized 7 years ago as Thomas Pederson's graduation production from Aarhus School of Architecture, the Stingray Rocker has finally taken shape, for Fredericia Furniture, into a piece that will long outlive its production time. From functionality to design, the product is a futuristic interpretation of the classic rocker, and more specifically the iconic Eames Rocker.

Stingray Rocker. Designed by Thomas Pederson for Federicia Furniture.

All our 3ringers should be familiar Eames everything, a regular muse here for our editors; see Live at Design Miami: Al Sabah Art and Design, Surreal Minimalism by David Pompa, and Gossip Girl Here, Meet the Eames Lounger. The floating appearance of the chair is achieved through its minimal, thin steel frame, built without any transverse lines. The frame's lightness is juxtaposed against the solid shell form (the seat), available in white or black vacuum suctioned plastic or in bent wood (with or without a leather interior surface). The bent wood shell brings us back to the Jeremy Kaplan's felt chaise chair. The emerging theme is that of bent wood which seems to float over a very minimal invisible base. The most iconic is perhaps the black plastic, marked by a number of material oppositions. The seemingly invisible base supports a comparatively expansive rigid and clean edged, smooth, glossy black shell, within which a plush, textural white sheepskin seems organically strewn across its surface. Pederson beautifully achieves this composition of materials while maintaining the material integrity of each.

"The name of the chair derives from the stingray. The Danish word for stingray is 'rokke' which sounds like the first part of the word 'rock' in rocking chair and the shell does resemble a giant stingray moving across the seabed. But it was the functionality that came first, not the design." Pederson's Stingray Rocker has been the recipient of the Interior Innovation Award (Cologne, Germany 2008) and the Red Dot Design Award (2008). The Stingray is a clear improvement to the classic rocker, both aesthetically and functionally. It will be a striking addition to any modern home; a chair built for comfort that you can happily sink into.