Re-Pete (MPavilion 2022 Chair design commission) · research

Year: 2022

Re-pete is a lightweight zero-waste stool produced from robotically extruded recyclable polyethylene terephthalate (rPET) plastic.

Drawing inspiration from the billowing and cellular forms of the pavilion design, our stool’s complex doubly-curved shape enhances the chair’s stability and stiffness at key locations whilst offering flex and suspension at others. The translucent yet highly textured surfaces animate the stool, amplifying its environment through flickering plays of light and casting spectrums of colour.

Our work demonstrates a circular approach encompassing design, fabrication and recovery while celebrating the aesthetic and functional possibilities of emergent material techniques and robotic fabrication technologies.

Research team

  • Sam Tomkins
  • Max Maxwell
  • Ben Ennis-Butler

Awards

Gold Winner. Australian Good Design Awards 2023. Product/Furniture and Lighting

Award of Merit. Design Institute of Australia, Designers Australia Awards 2023: USE describing things we use.

Gold Winner. Designers Institute of New Zealand, Best Design Awards 2023: Furniture.

Silver Prize. Product Design, 2023 Design Educates Awards.

Shortlisted

FRAME Awards’ Product: Furniture of the Year

IDEA Awards 2023: Object, Furniture & Lighting - Professional.

7.38/10 FRAME Furniture Jury, June 2023

Exhibited

Bangkok Design Week, Shadow and Spaces: Spectrum of Possibilities, February 2024

Sydney Design Week, Powerhouse Museum, September 2023 MPavilion, Queen Victoria Gardens, 8 December 2022 - 6 April 2023.

Craft Victoria, The Chair, September 10 - November 19, 2022.

Research

RePete, University of Canberra Research Portal

Media

The Age. ‘We’re the least famous architects’: The designers behind this year’s MPavilion. 20 November 2022.

Green Magazine. Zero Waste Stool ‘Re-Pete’ Announced as Winner of Chair Design for 9th MPavilion. 29 September 2022.

Australian Design Review. Zero-waste stool named chair design winner for MPavilion 2022. 13 September 2022.Elly Mackay.

UC team win coveted international design award, University of Canberra Press Release. 26 August 2022.

MPavilion 2022 Chair: Re-Pete MPavilion.

Ephemeral. Transformative. Zero-Waste. Introducing the MPavilion 2022 Chair… Press Release. 22 August 2022.