German designer Martin Ballendat gave us the smart and multi-functional Sculptural Chair, which allows for sitting and working on a laptop, as the armrest doubles as a built-in (yet subtle) table. Since founding Design Ballendat in 1995, he has earned many awards, including Best of NeoCon, Good Design, and Red Dot Awards. His latest chair, the Perillo, designed for Swedish manufacturer Züco, has also won a Red Dot Award—one of only two so far achieved for the Züco brand.

Perillo Chair. Designed by Martin Ballendat for Züco.

The Swiss company explains that their continuing partnership with Ballendat brings out Züco’s “special hallmarks: precision, perfect craftsmanship and an open mind for innovative challenges.” Certainly, the Perillo Lounge Chair embodies both exactitude and vanguardism. Crafted from one continuous piece of material, the seat of the Perillo Lounge Chair is a curved form meant to accommodate the human body in its concavity. Given Züco’s emphasis on ergonomics, this aspect of Ballendat’s chair is as much functional as it is aesthetic. The contrast between the outside and the inside of the Perillo Lounge Chair further accentuates the choice of the continuous shape, as the meeting edges intensify the dynamic force.

The use of opposing colors also invigorates Perillo’s twistiness. The central column and round base make the Perillo more streamlined than 1966’s Ribbon Chair by Pierre Paulin, to which the Perillo has been understandably compared. But Ballendat’s choice of material—all shiny, new, gleaming, and ultra-modern—situates the Perillo Lounge Chair squarely in the 21st century.