What great designer hasn’t taken on the challenge of the sublime seating experience known as the lounge chair? From the iconicEames Lounger on down the decades to the recent Lounger by Jaime Hayon, we’ve seen the multiple guises and innovative incarnations of this most prevalent emblem of relaxation. Though I wouldn’t typically associate the lounger with a Japanese aesthetic, it seems that’s exactly what Spanish designer Ramon Esteve has done to come up with his Oru Chair. This piece synthesizes the angular linearity of the art of origami with the plush profile of a comfortable lounge chair in order to create a kind of cultural meeting of the minds (and bodies).

Oru Chair. Designed by Ramon Esteve for Jouer.

A New Aesthetic for a Classical Furnishing

Designer Esteve’s background is in architecture. In 1990 he joined the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid, where he worked on projects in fields as diverse as health care, education, religion, and heavy industry. Perhaps the eclecticism accounts in some measure for his interest in a cutting edge aesthetic, if you’ll pardon the pun, but Oru would appear to have enough sharp sides to butcher a Christmas goose. Thankfully, the hard lines of Oru are far removed from any bodily contact with the prospective sitter.

Oru’s wooden structure conceals an interior of varied densities of polyurethane form—pillowed together in just the right order to provide maximum comfort and efficacious ergonomics. Add manufacturer Joquer’s deliciously vibrant upholstery and intriguing metal pentagonal base, and you have a “clean-lined, unmistakable shape which boasts a multitude of contours… highly conducive to rest and relaxation. This armchair is as suited to public spaces as it is for domestic interiors.”

Via InteriorsFromSpain.