Piatto Chair

Brief: Create a cafe style system of seats with a contemporary aesthetic that can be movable but also surface fixed and suitable for the rigours of public outdoor use over many years. It should be part of a system that delivers a single seat, two seat and three seat configuration from shared components. Key considerations ensuring the long-term success of the project: Design for a wide range of outdoor environments and surfaces, including grass and pavement - Accessibility and DDA compliance; - Sufficiently heavy to prevent theft but able to be moved short distances. - Circular principles for re-use and recycle

The Piatto Chair is an elegant solution that brings new levels of freedom to users, to adjust the seat location in the public domain, to take in some shade or sun rather than suffer permanent placements that are uncomfortable or less conducive to discussion and interaction between friends. Developing this mobile ‘cafe chair’-meets-robust-public-furniture demanded deep engagement with landscape architects and public space custodians. Through empathy interviews and public behaviour observations, the team noted pains and issues by sharing early prototypes with end-users, considering preferences and concerns, followed by rigorous and repeated drag and impact load testing.

The Piatto Chair is robust enough to ‘set and forget’, while its movability promotes deeper connection with place - catering to the evolving needs of public spaces. Arriving just as Street Furniture Australia moves to become carbon neutral, Piatto incorporates circularity principles using 100% recyclable cast aluminium frames with recyclable/replaceable batten options. Design versatility is prioritised over wasteful customisation, and customers’ right to repair is backed by tested materials and manufacturing processes. The most important impact is seen when the product is in use, in a park. Seeing people customise their seating experience to maximise their enjoyment makes us smile.

The Piatto Chair is sturdy, contemporary and stylish, and as with all Street Furniture Australia products is designed to use minimum parts, with tailoring for maximum possibilities, offering great versatility. Using standardised battens in the wide range of Street Furniture Australia colours, materials and finishes, tailoring will not compromise the high quality and longevity of each piece. Piatto Chair uses a 10mm thick aluminium cast frame for strength and durability, with smooth and well integrated fixings to reduce the possibility of snagging. A minimalist frame and batten design keeps production costs down, making the Piatto Chair the most affordable single seater produced at the factory. Pairing well with Street Furniture Australia’s existing Linea, Aria and Cafe range, the Piatto Chair is a suitable addition to existing outdoor settings. The seat has exceptional stability when compared to similar products in the marketplace. It weighs 16-20kg and is non-stackable, reducing the likelihood of theft. This combination makes it the first of its kind. Sharing a system of components, The Piatto Chair will be followed up by a suite of products with shared DNA including two and three seat configurations and the Piatto Table and Piatto Stool.