Design icon: Gubi Beetle Chair

Are you thinking the Gubi Beetle Chair looks familiar? You’re probably right – thanks to its alluring curved form, this chair has been gracing the pages of design magazines and popping up all over our Instagram and Pinterest feeds since its release in 2013. From hotels to home dining spaces, the Beetle Chair has an elegance and versatility that has made it the go-to modern chair design in recent years.

But it doesn’t just look good, this chair has been engineered to provide great comfort and its clever modular construction means it can adapt with you through life too. This combination of factors means we think it’s time to give the Beetle Chair the label it deserves – modern design icon.

Designed by GamFratesi

GamFratesi is an award-winning Copenhagen-based design studio made up of Danish architect Stine Gam and Italian architect Enrico Fratesi. Drawing on both traditional Scandinavian craftsmanship and the conceptual exuberance of Italian design, GamFratesi’s cross-cultural background has allowed them to bring the best of two worlds together. This has resulted in a collection of beautiful, minimal pieces of furniture and lighting, all of which tell a story.

The pair have worked alongside Gubi since the early days of their studio, creating designs such as the TS Tables, Masculo Dining Chair, Epic Coffee Table and of course, the Beetle Chair.

Inspired by nature

“Insects are beautiful creatures of nature. Each element of their bodies has a specific function – a true encounter between form and function, distilled into the essential. We found inspiration for a chair that could be at once highly functional as well as beautiful.” – GamFratesi

The humble beetle is an evolutionary success story, an animal that has adapted seamlessly to its environment over millions of years, with species of beetle being found in almost every corner of the globe. Long admired, the beetle has inspired everything from ancient cultural myths to twentieth-century cars and British pop bands – and now this inspiration has reached the world of furniture design.

Fascinated by the anatomy and aesthetic of beetles, design duo GamFratesi set about to create a chair that reinterpreted the harmonious outline of these small creatures. The pair drew on the characteristic form of a beetle’s shell to create an ergonomic chair that, just like an actual beetle, has a hard exterior and a soft interior.

Micro-movements for maximum comfort

“It looks solid and impenetrable and yet, in places, it is sinuous and flexible, and this seeming contradiction is what enables it to move freely. All these elements are linked and work together in a fascinating way. One of the many reasons we studied beetles was their ability to carry out technical movements while keeping their parts rigid and defined.” – GamFratesi

The Beetle Chair has a hard yet supple two-part outer shell that has been engineered to respond to the sitter, enabling micro-movements that optimise its comfort whilst maintaining a strong and distinctive silhouette.

In complete contrast, the cushioned inner surface of the chair reflects the soft underbelly of a beetle – providing an inviting and supportive place to sit, ingeniously protected by the outer shell.

Create, combine & customise

With the desire to create a chair that can adapt with your life, and that has a long lifespan – Gubi have designed the Beetle Chair to be modular, offering thousands of potential combinations. Choose from unupholstered, partly upholstered or fully upholstered seat shells, and conical, wood or casted swivel bases. Choose from a wide array of colours and fabrics – and in just a few simple steps, create a bespoke chair, specifically tailored to your needs.

All this provides the Beetle Chair with chameleon-like adaptability – it can be used as a single statement, as part of a unified group or it can be carefully curated to sit in amongst other furniture classics. The choice is up to you!

Back to nature

A new release for 2021, the Gubi Beetle Chair is now available in a weather-resistant polypropylene shell – creating a chair that is perfect for both indoors and out. To make sure the Beetle Chair stays looking its best, a UV additive has been added to the seat shell to strengthen and protect the chair against exposure to UV radiation.

Thanks to its versatility, comfort and the sheer amount of choice on offer – we think the Gubi Beetle Chair is the perfect modern chair. Do you agree?

For more information visit our Beetle Chair Collection page or speak to one of the team at Nest via email at info@nest.co.uk, over the phone on 0114 243 3000 or using Live Chat.

Already own a Gubi Beetle Chair? Share your styling with us over Instagram @nest_co_uk.