Milan (MI) and Manzano (UD), Italy
Reef is a 100% green armchair designed by Michele Menscardi for Connubia, whose every element is designed with an eco-sustainable and circular approach.
Its name and the bright colors of the coatings pay homage to the coral reef, which with its biodiversity represents such a vital and amazing, yet fragile reality that needs to be protected.
Reef represents a new design awareness that puts nature above man, with the courage to revolutionise using innovative solutions, which are capable of giving life to a sustainable and responsible production.
With its ageless lines, it is a model designed to last for a long time, with a choice of materials aimed at minimizing the environmental impact.
For its commitment to sustainability, Reef Armchair has recently been awarded a 2023 Green Good Design Award by The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.
From the padding to the internal structure to the packaging, everything has been chosen with an eco-sustainable and circular perspective in mind.
It is an informal and versatile armchair, with generous and enveloping shapes, born to welcome and accompany long family talks, evening reading, or improvised meetings in the lounge of a coworking or hotel.
The low backrest allows ample freedom of movement, while the soft and gentle volumes are emphasized by horizontal and vertical quilted bands that rhythmically define its presence in the space.
Reef is a product with a delicate spirit that takes the preservation of nature seriously.
The Reef armchair, with its bright colors and its light spirit, marks a new design awareness that has seen the company and designers collaborate side by side to find innovative solutions capable of creating sustainable and responsible production.
This is why its lines draw a timeless but extremely contemporary product where each element has been studied with an eco-sustainable and circular approach and are the perfect expression of Calligaris Group’s “Greenbow” philosophy.
The internal frame is made of woods coming from FSC certified forests, while the padding comes from recycled polyurethanes from disused mattresses and from the recycling of post-consumer polyester containers.
But innovation also lies above all in the fabric with which the Reef is upholstered.
Created entirely with post-consumer recycled plastic, from the plastic debris floating in our seas and from plastic bottles destined for landfill, this particular upholstery has been made together with SEAQUAL, the community that fights marine pollution by cleaning it from plastic.
For each Reef produced, more than 100 plastic bottles, recovered from the sea, are used, contributing concretely to the mission of cleaning the land and the oceans.
Sustainability was also given priority in the packaging process, using exclusively recycled cardboard with low environmental impact printing.
In short, with Reef you can help save the oceans by sitting comfortably in an armchair.
Project: Reef Armchair
Designers: Michele Menescardi
Manufacturer: Connubia SpA.
