Berlin-based designer Anastasiya Koshcheeva has designed the Sibirjak lounge chair crafted using birchbark.
This natural material is not only flexible, soft, water-repellent and antibacterial, but also breathable, durable, and strong. Due to its numerous advantages, birchbark was traditionally used in many cultures to create everyday objects such as baskets, boxes, or quivers, musical instruments, canoes etc.
Despite these unique characteristics, Koshcheeva believes that the material has gradually been forgotten over the years. In response, the designer created this project that directly deals with the question of how to reinterpret an age-old custom and also how to make the conventional handcraft up-to-date.
The chair and the ottoman combination emphasizes the material aesthetics, combining traditional skills with present-day processing. The horizontal alignment of the bark underlines the leather-like properties of the construct, which offers a wide and welcoming, comfortable seat. The textile details and the reduced geometric frame forms a strong contrast to the natural birchbark.
Sibirjak differs strongly from the conventional folkloric context and at the same time invigorates the traditional handcraft by showing new possibilities in a contemporary context.
Lounge Chair & Ottoman
Lounge Chair Detail
Ottoman Detail
Raw Material
