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BETTESWORTHConstruction

From First Sketch to Swivel: How NOTE and Resident Developed the Avant Lounge Chair

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The Avant lounge chair came together through a long-distance collaboration between Stockholm-based NOTE Design Studio and Aotearoa New Zealand furniture company Resident. The relationship began when NOTE specified Resident’s Offset coffee table for a project; a photograph of that project appeared on Instagram, Resident sent a thank-you, and the exchange grew into months of exploring chair typologies. The finished design combines a deep upholstered seat, overhanging arms, a curved back and a swivelling, chunky timber base.

This is therefore less a story of a single inspired sketch than of incubation, full-scale mock-ups and repeated decisions about proportion. Homestyle’s feature on the collaboration documents how NOTE and Resident moved from remote conversations to a chair that could be judged from every angle. Resident’s Avant Lounge Chair listing provides the current finish and upholstery choices, which should be checked again for live availability and lead times.

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How did NOTE and Resident first begin working together?

The partnership started with an ordinary specification decision. NOTE used Resident’s Offset coffee table in one of its projects. Images of the project were shared on Instagram, Resident contacted the studio to say thank you, and that small interaction opened a wider conversation about making a product together.

At that point there was no settled chair brief. The designers spent months examining different typologies before deciding what the collaboration should become. That open beginning mattered: instead of forcing a predetermined shape into production, the teams could ask what kind of lounge chair would express both studios’ interests and make sense for Resident’s collection.

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Homestyle identifies NOTE designers Max Stjerna and Malin Engvall as the designers of Avant, working with Resident and its co-founder Scott Bridgens. The companies were separated by hemispheres and time zones, so design reviews, questions for suppliers and decisions about prototypes had to be coordinated remotely as well as in person. The account presents that distance as part of the project’s character, not as a reason to simplify it.

Why did the development period matter?

The chair’s development illustrates what Bridgens calls an “incubation period” in furniture design. As he told Homestyle, “Furniture has an incubation period, and it’s long. If you can accept that as a designer, it’s a good thing. You let it be born properly.” The statement describes a process in which the team allowed alternatives to remain open long enough for the proportions, use and production requirements to settle together.

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For an upholstered lounge chair, a quick visual approval is not enough. A drawing can suggest a generous seat, but it cannot prove whether the back supports a sitter, whether the arms feel intrusive, or whether the object occupies a room comfortably from behind. The months of typology work gave NOTE and Resident time to resolve those questions before committing to tooling and upholstery patterns.

The collaboration also had to survive changes introduced during production. Homestyle reports that the teams brought a factory in Asia into the process and worked to preserve the design through manufacturing adjustments. The source does not establish a precise development duration or a complete manufacturing specification, so those details should not be inferred beyond the reported coordination between the studios and factory.

What prototyping methods did the designers use?

The process moved deliberately between digital and physical work. NOTE and Resident made hand sketches together, developed drawings on an iPad, built paper models and used 3D studies. They then returned to hands-on making, because the tactile evidence of a model exposed issues that a screen could conceal.

The most consequential physical study was a full-scale cardboard mock-up. The designers layered and glued cardboard, cut it with a craft knife and used tape to suggest the give of upholstery. Unlike a small maquette, the model was large enough to sit in. That allowed the team to check the relationship between seat depth, back angle, arm height and the overall enveloping feeling at the scale at which the chair would actually be used.

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“Upholstered objects are difficult to prototype. We wanted to test the ergonomics, so the cardboard model was fully sittable,” Malin Engvall told Homestyle. The point was not to make cardboard behave like a finished chair; it was to create a fast, inexpensive object that could accept cuts, additions and taped adjustments while the designers tested posture and comfort.

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NOTE’s architects also joined as a review team, according to the feature. Their role added another viewpoint: the chair had to work not only as a comfortable object but also as a piece of architecture viewed in a room, from circulation routes and edges as well as from the front.

Why is the back of Avant so important?

The back is the chair’s defining view. Max Stjerna explained the studio’s approach plainly: “We usually approach a chair from behind, so that’s an important view.” In Avant, the rear is not treated as leftover upholstery after the front has been solved. The curved back, structured overhanging arms and timber support are composed as a complete silhouette.

That rear view helps explain the chair’s distinctive geometry. The arms project beyond the sides of the seat, while the back curves around the sitter. Those parts could have produced a hard, heavily sculpted object; instead, the designers worked toward what Homestyle describes as a soft geometry. The result is substantial without relying on sharp transitions, so the chair can read as a freestanding object rather than furniture that needs to be pushed against a wall.

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Looking from behind is also a practical design test. In a hospitality, workplace or residential plan, lounge chairs are often visible from circulation paths. A back that has been considered as carefully as the front can maintain a coherent room composition when the chair is angled, swivelled or placed in the middle of a space.

How did the chunky timber base become part of the solution?

The timber base was initially a concern. The designers thought it was “super chunky,” and the proportion nearly disappeared during development. Instead of treating that mass as a problem to disguise, the team kept revisiting it. The feature reports that the finished proportion became something people appreciated.

That decision gives Avant a clear visual anchor beneath its soft upholstery. The broad timber element carries the visual weight of the overhanging arms and deep seat, while the rounded upholstered volume keeps the chair from appearing purely architectural. The base is not a thin technical stand hidden under the cushion; it is one of the design’s recognisable elements.

The completed chair swivels. That functional move changes how the heavy base is experienced: the sitter can turn toward a conversation, a view or a work surface without dragging the chair across the floor. It also means that the rear silhouette is seen in use, reinforcing why the designers paid attention to every angle.

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What does the finished chair look and feel designed to do?

Resident describes Avant as having a bold timber base, distinctive overhanging arms and a deep, enveloping seat. Together, those features suggest a lounge chair intended for sustained sitting rather than brief perching. The arms create a visual frame around the sitter, while the curved back supplies the enclosing profile established in the prototypes.

“Enveloping” should be read as a description of the chair’s form, not as a guarantee that every user will find the same comfort. Body proportions, preferred posture and the selected upholstery can all change the experience. The development story does, however, show that ergonomics were assessed at full scale rather than left entirely to rendered images.

The swivel adds another layer of use. In a home it can let the chair face a conversation area and then rotate toward a window. In a project setting, it can make a single chair more adaptable without changing its footprint on the floor. Those are functional implications of the mechanism; Resident’s available product information does not provide a load rating, rotation range or maintenance interval, so those specifications should be requested from Resident for a particular installation.

Which finishes and upholstery options are listed for Avant?

Resident’s official listing shows the timber base in Black Stain Oak, Natural Oak and Umber Stained Oak. The same page lists upholstery options from Maharam, Kvadrat and Sørensen. Finish names, fabric availability and regional options can change, so the product page is the appropriate place to confirm a current combination rather than relying on an older image or specification.

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For a construction or interiors schedule, record the exact stain and upholstery selection instead of writing only “Avant lounge chair.” The timber finish changes the visual weight of the base, while upholstery colour and texture affect how the curved back and projecting arms read under a project’s lighting. Ask Resident to confirm the available fabric code, care information, lead time and any minimum order requirements before issuing a purchase order.

The listing is also the source to use for current price, stock status, delivery regions and enquiry or purchase routes. Those commercial details are live-page information, not permanent characteristics of the design.

How did the teams protect the design during production?

Remote collaboration does not end when a prototype is approved. The account describes the need to coordinate across hemispheres, involve a factory in Asia and preserve the intended design while production adjustments were made. That is a familiar construction and manufacturing challenge: materials, tooling and assembly can force changes even when the visual concept is already agreed.

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For Avant, the earlier physical studies gave the teams a reference for what could not be casually altered. The full-scale cardboard model established the sitter’s relationship to the chair; the paper and 3D studies clarified the silhouette; and the review process kept the rear view in focus. When a manufacturing question arose, those shared references helped distinguish a necessary production adjustment from a change that would undermine the design.

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Resident’s current technical information does not specify the factory’s name, the exact country of manufacture, engineering tolerances or upholstery construction. A project specification should therefore use Resident’s current technical information rather than assume details from the development narrative.

What does the name “Avant” mean?

Homestyle reports that the name nods to “avant-garde” and to the Italian word “avanti,” meaning “forward.” Both associations fit the collaboration’s account. “Avant-garde” suggests a willingness to question familiar chair typologies, while “forward” reflects a process that moved through sketches, models and revisions instead of settling at the first attractive image.

The name is also short enough to function as a clear product identifier in schedules and correspondence. When specifying it, use the full name “Resident Avant Lounge Chair,” followed by the selected timber and upholstery options, so it cannot be confused with another product carrying the word Avant.

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What can designers and builders learn from the Avant process?

First, start with a real relationship rather than a forced brief. NOTE and Resident’s collaboration grew from an installed coffee table and a simple thank-you, then developed after both sides explored what they could make together. That sequence allowed the product to reflect an existing design language instead of being invented in isolation.

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Second, alternate between representations. Hand sketches reveal intent, iPad drawings speed up iteration, paper models test volume, 3D helps communicate form across distance, and a full-scale mock-up exposes ergonomic problems. No single medium answers every question, particularly for upholstered furniture.

Third, test the views that a room will actually show. NOTE’s emphasis on the rear of the chair is a useful reminder for architects and contractors: a product placed away from a wall needs a finished back, and a swivel mechanism can make that back part of the everyday experience.

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Finally, treat an apparently excessive element as a design question, not an automatic defect. The chunky timber base nearly vanished, yet became a feature once its relationship to the upholstered volume and swivel function was understood. The lesson is not that every large base is desirable; it is that proportion should be judged in the complete object, at full scale and in use.

How should a project team specify or order Avant?

  1. Confirm the exact product. Use Resident’s Avant Lounge Chair listing and identify the chair by its full name.
  2. Select the timber finish. Choose Black Stain Oak, Natural Oak or Umber Stained Oak as currently offered.
  3. Select upholstery. Check the live Resident page for available Maharam, Kvadrat or Sørensen options and the relevant fabric code.
  4. Verify project conditions. Ask about current price, stock, lead time, delivery region, care requirements and any technical data needed for the specification.
  5. Coordinate placement. Allow the chair’s deep seat, overhanging arms and swivel action to work with surrounding furniture and circulation paths.
  6. Approve a physical sample where possible. Timber stain and upholstery can read differently under a project’s lighting; obtain the supplier’s current samples before final approval.

This workflow keeps the design story and the procurement record connected without assuming that a finish, fabric or delivery condition shown in an older photograph is still available.

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Why is the Avant story relevant beyond one chair?

Avant is a case study in how a product becomes resolved through collaboration rather than through a single authorial gesture. A Stockholm studio, a New Zealand manufacturer and a production partner in Asia had to share decisions over distance. The process relied on tangible models, especially a sit-in cardboard prototype, to keep ergonomics and proportion measurable while conversations crossed time zones.

Its final character comes from decisions that could easily have been edited out: the attention to the back, the arms that overhang the seat, the base that first seemed too chunky and the choice to let the chair swivel. Those decisions connect appearance, use and manufacture. That is why the Avant lounge chair reads as more than a product image: it is the visible record of a long conversation between Stockholm and Aotearoa.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does Aotearoa mean in the Avant story?

Aotearoa is the Māori name commonly used for New Zealand, where Resident is based. The phrase in the title distinguishes Resident’s side of the collaboration from NOTE’s Stockholm studio and signals that the project crossed cultures as well as time zones.

How should Avant be written in an interiors schedule?

List “Resident Avant Lounge Chair,” then add the chosen oak finish, upholstery supplier and fabric code. Include the swivel function and any supplier technical information required by the project, rather than relying on a generic lounge-chair description.

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Can the available fabrics or stains change after a project is designed?

Yes. Resident’s product page is the live reference for current combinations, regional availability, stock and lead times. Reconfirm those details before approval because a finish or upholstery option shown in an earlier article or image may no longer be offered.

Why is a full-size model especially useful for an upholstered chair?

Upholstery changes perceived softness, edge definition and usable space in ways that small models cannot show. A sit-in mock-up lets designers adjust seat, back and arm relationships at human scale before those decisions are embedded in foam, fabric and production tooling.

Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply. Prices as of November 14, 2026 12:04 pm GMT+0000.

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