Chair-ish Creativity
- Phil Wells
- Apr 30
- 3 min read
Bringing Creative Thinking in to the Classroom with Chair Design
Creative Design Fun
‘Chair-ish Creativity’ is one of our favourite workshops. It explores how creative design, focused on every day objects which we usually take for granted (such as the chair) can help develop creative thinking skills. We approach this with fun and inclusive multi-modal learning exercises which includes discussion, reading, writing, drawing and making. Creativity is vital in schools because it encourages original problem-solving, independent thinking, and individual adaptability. We all have the ability to be creative - like it or not, it’s a skill we were naturally born with. Once upon a time each of us was a Creative Genius! The trouble is that standard education systems and general growing up ‘de-geniuses’ us, to use Buckminster Fuller’s term. The good news is that creativity and creative thinking can be re-learned as taught skills which we believe are essential for every young person today, to prepare them for their future. In our workshops we focus on delivering super-fun creative exercises which we apply across academic subjects. This helps to build student’s confidence in their creative abilities, helps them understand which learning methods suits them best, and builds enthusiasm and positive connections with curriculum subjects.
Download the free workshop sheets from our SubStack
Multi-Modal Learning
Our workshops start with investigation and discovery around discussions, drawing, writing and brainstorming, to build the group’s forces and engagement in the task ahead. As an introduction this uses multiple levels of creative thinking and interactions across the group. Here we are investigating the subject of chair design in an inclusive and supportive working environment with a creatively divergent objective, to gather and share as many ideas and thoughts as possible. It is also important to reference the study to what chair design means to the students. After all, they are leading the design narrative.
Following this investigative study, we look at subject areas relating to the design focus. For Chair-ish Creativity this is usually structural and ergonomic design considerations. This begins to focus the initial findings and conceptual ideas towards a convergent, and more focused set of design options. With that we open the creative thinking process again with the students developing their designs, this time in a hands-on process of model making and prototyping.
Projects Driven by Personal Value
Central to the discussions and development of the workshop is the core value of what the chair design means to the student. It is their personal project after all and they develop and lead the brief. Their design proposals are always enlightening and exciting with inclusive and engaging design insights, often challenging the conventions of structural engineering or material science, which becomes great fun to be involved with.
Our workshops are fast-paced with lessons broken down in to progressive steps with each section lasting about 20 minutes each. This keeps the students focused on their ideas and enthusiastic for the process. Typically we deliver these workshops to Primary School students in years 4 to 6 (9 to 11 year olds) and secondary School students in years 7 to 9 (12 to 14 year olds), but we can adapt the process and materials for other age-groups.
The student’s solutions are fascinating and often heart-warming. Apart from the predicted gaming chairs, some memorable creations from our workshops have included ‘a comfy chair for Mum’, ‘a trampoline chair’, and ‘a chair to meet friends on’.
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Supporting a Creative Future
Our workshops aren’t just about building chairs, products or spaces—they are about giving kids the tools and confidence to see themselves as designers of their own world - active stakeholders in their future. By blending open creativity with real-world principles such as ergonomic design, they gain a new perspective on how our built environment shapes our lives and how they can positively impact on that.
In a world where children are often encouraged to sit and ‘learn’, we gave them a chance in this workshop to reinvent what sitting looks like—and it turns out, it always looks bold, brilliant, and full of fun.
So here’s some questions for you to ponder today: If you could design your perfect chair, who would it be for, what would it look like, what would it be made from and what would it be called?
Download the free workshop sheets for free from our SubStack and give it a try. Let us know your ideas. Who knows? Your concept might just inspire our next generation of chair-makers.
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