On my shortlist of scenic dining experiences, I'd include the Cloud Nine Alpine Bistro in Aspen, the Skylon Tower at Niagara Falls (can't say much about the food, but the vista is something else), and Cannons Seafood Grill in Dana Point, CA. Would I could make a pilgrimage across the pond to expand this list, because I'd certainly know where to start: Antwerp's Portview Restaurant in the Ahlers House, home of the most intriguing three-seater Portview Chair by Frederic Van Hoecke for Sixinch.

Portview Chair at the Ahlers House. Designed by Frederic Van Hoecke. Manufactured by Sixinch.

The Portview Chair Provides Big, Bold Seating in an Exclusive Environment

Making the journey to Antwerp may be the only way to catch a glimpse-and a feel-of this geometric tour de force in rigid foam. Van Hoecke says the piece is inspired by the rhythms of the harbor and the river Scheldt. Since I've never been to the locale, I'm forced to speculate about the meaning of this cryptic statement.

Given the Portview Chair's deep striations and thick, blocky silhouette, I'd conjecture that the port's infrastructure does a fair bit of manipulating that river Scheldt. Indeed, the lined surface of the Portview Chair evokes the marshalling of so many wild waters into artificial structures-reservoirs, abutments, banks, dams, dikes, and the like-all locales where the spontaneous flow changes into neat enfilades.

The aesthetic of the Portview Chair seems to parallel this phenomenon, as its boundless base of rigid foam is divvied up into an intriguing textural detail. The piece's vivid orange is additionally compelling, as it provides a delightful shock of color, making for an intriguing contrast with the somewhat sedate-if quintessentially Modern-environs.

About the Manufacturer: Sixinch is a Belgian design firm helmed by Pieter Jamart and Michael Sels. When the two met in 2003, they discovered they shared a passion for the unbound versatility and exuberant potentiality of covered foam: "Exploring processes, dimensions, and shapes, and combining this with innovative design, the Sixinch collection grew into its present industry collection." Although Sixinch works with a wide variety of materials, they continue to have a penchant for covered foam. The manufacturer designs many of their products in house, but they also bring the work of other designers to living, vivid fruition, as with the Portview Chair by Frederic Van Hoecke.