The Functional Design of Forte is a video featuring Greg Saul, Industrial Designer of Tolleson Saul Design. Greg discusses the importance of functionality when it comes to designer furniture in this video interview.

Functional Design of Forte VideoBelow, you can watch the video and read about the functionality Forté furniture provides to designers and why the design involved changing the curvature for guests to easily get in and out of the chair.

Meant to be used for several markets, including hospitality, healthcare, commercial and education, Forté furniture offers flexibility in design color, base option, furniture type and more. Share your comments about the video at the end of this post. Video:

Norix has had 30 years of success in using in roto-molded plastic in some of the most abusive environments in the world. Well, our challenge was to make this highly durable plastic more comfortable for the sitter. Curvature Design of Forte

We did that by adding some curvature to the seat in the back that would gently cradle the sitter and promote an upright posture. Another thing we did is round all of the shapes to really soften this harder material. In addition to that, we have an upholstery option now that has not been offered before on the roto-molded chairs that really softens it even more. So, in an area where they may want more traditional feel to the furniture we can put an upholstery option and a wood base to really soften the look.

And also to add to the comfort, we sloped the arms from lower at the back, which really lets you relax a little bit more, relax your shoulder muscles. And we raised them up at the front so that you have a place to put your hands to help get out of the chair.

The trumpet shape of the 36-inch diameter café table really came from structural considerations. By adding ballast to that base we can support larger laminate tops that would again, give us that contrasting finishes that we are doing on the lounge chairs so that we can play off of those same colors.

The guest chairs needed to be pitched slightly forward. We use the same curvature in the seat and back to cradle the sitter, but we pitched everything forward so that when people are sitting up to a table they’re getting the back support they need to keep them in an upright posture. The guest chairs in the original brief called for us to just scale down the larger lounge chairs into a smaller scale chair. The arm and armless chairs needed to be different dimensions. That freed us up to explore new forms, which I think was even more exciting for us because we were looking at designs that complemented the lounge. So now on the smaller chairs we have these small tapered legs, which really, I think, give it an elegant look, a flowing design that plays off the lounge chairs without doing the exact same thing.

Additional Reading:

Versatility an Important Feature of Designer Furniture

Video: Designer Interview | Norix Forté Series Furniture: Versatility

Video: Designer Interview | Norix Forté Series Furniture: Materiality

Looking for more information on the furniture discussed in this interview? Visit the Forte website and view a furniture brochure or fabric and materials card.