Ikea’s bottom-customised chair is targeting gamers

WHEN is a chair not just a chair? When it’s a special 3D printed chair from Ikea that’s been specifically designed for the contours of your bum.

WHEN is a chair not just a chair? When it’s a special gaming chair from Ikea that’s been specifically designed for the contours of your bum.

For far too long, gamers have been labouring under the misapprehension that pretty much anything you could sit on — regular chairs, beds, annoying younger siblings, milk crates, even the floor if you were desperate — could be used as gaming seating.

A few particularly devoted individuals have invested in specialised gaming chairs, most of which have a vaguely racing car theme for reasons no-one is entirely clear on.

But all that could change soon if a keen gamer and the world’s largest furniture retailer have anything to say about it, following the unveiling of a prototype gaming chair — a collaborative design from e-sports development organisation Area Academy, medical technology and 3D printing firm Unyq and furniture giant Ikea.

The idea of the chair, unveiled at Ikea’s Democratic Design Days in Sydney, is that its cushions can be fully customised for a user’s bottom shape, with the customised cushions then slotted into the base of the chair.

The final design, pricing and other details are yet to be determined.

The purchaser has the relevant areas scanned electronically, most likely in an in-store scanning booth, and the resulting information is used with a 3D printer to create cushions specifically designed to suit them.

Tommy Ingemarsson, CEO of Area Academy, a Scandinavian organisation working to promote e-sports and development, said ergonomics were an under-appreciated aspect of increasing gaming performance.

“When considering how to enhance your performance within gaming, people usually think about the software of the device you use and not the functionality in your space. But ergonomics are actually an equally important factor in becoming a better gamer,” he said.

Mr Ingemarsson said the chair was designed partly in response to the realisation that while gamers changed their hardware regularly, they tended to get one chair and stick with it for many years, even if their body had changed and was not longer getting the best or most ergonomic support from it.

“Every gamer is unique, like a fingerprint — different heights, lengths, weights and it changes as you grow,” he said.

“What we want to do is combine Ikea’s knowledge and 3D printing and our knowledge of the gaming community.

“Our ultimate goal is to create something that’s unique for each person — you can buy a normal chair in Ikea, and order the special cushion to go with it. It’ll be accessible for everyone.”

The gamer chair is a collaborative design from e-sports development organisation Area Academy, medical technology and 3D printing firm Unyq and furniture giant Ikea.

As a keen gamer himself, Mr Ingemarsson said much of the gaming furniture on the market was aimed at people in the 12-20s age group, even though the average gamer was much older and looking for something more understated than most currently offered gaming chairs.

“The average gamer is 35 in Europe … I’m a hardcore gamer and I’m 38 but I don’t want flashing lights and spaceship (styling) — I want a clean design that blends in with other furniture,” he said.

Ikea range and supply head of design Marcus Engman said the prototype chair had a lot of potential, particularly with the Area Academy and Unyq collaboration.

“We are curious about how home furnishing combined with new technology could improve gaming and life around it. And we believe that we have just the right collaborators to do this, one that knows all about the needs of gamers and one that knows all about the technologies of personalisation,” he said.

The unveiled gaming chair — more of a stool in its current form — was a prototype and Mr Ingemarsson stressed the final design could be very different. The finished product will tentatively be available from 2020 but the final design, pricing and other details are yet to be determined.