---
title: "Membrane and Cradle: Benjamin Hubert modulates materials"
url: "https://www.stylepark.com/en/news/membrane-and-cradle-benjamin-hubert-modulates-materials"
language: "en"
type: "article"
description: "Benjamin Hubert asks questions, using them as a starting point to design not one, but two armchairs - Membrane and Cradle."
published: "2013-04-04T00:00:00+02:00"
modified: "2024-10-14T16:13:42+02:00"
image: "https://www.stylepark.com/assets/articles/2013/membrane-und-cradle-benjamin-hubert-moduliert-materialien/l2_v340600_1046_237_237-1.jpg"
---

# Membrane and Cradle: Benjamin Hubert modulates materials

Membrane and Cradle

Benjamin Hubert modulates materials

Apr 4, 2013

![](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/articles/2013/membrane-and-cradle-benjamin-hubert-modulates-materials/l2_v340600_958_724_686-1.jpg)Illustration of the armchair "Membrane", photo © ClassiCon

Benjamin Hubert often uses well-known materials and upholstery fabrics in unusual, surprising contexts. In Milan the British designer will be presenting two new armchairs with mesh structures: “Membrane” for ClassiCon and “Cradle” for Moroso.

Concrete lampshades, PET felt seat shells, a leather armchair with a pleated stretchable cover – Benjamin Hubert knows how to amaze us. The 29-year-old British designer always begins the design process with a consideration of fundamental questions and a detailed analysis.

Such questions would be:

Does the new design really have a raison d’être for any particular reason?

Is it visually innovative or does it establish a new typology?

Can a product be simplified or made more efficient in its use?

How do people use/approach the object on an everyday basis?

Is it ecologically sustainable?

And in this case: Does a comfortable armchair necessarily have to be big and heavy with thick padding?

**Membrane for ClassiCon**

Certainly not. The armchair “Membrane” that Hubert has designed for ClassiCon is light, capacious, yet semi-transparent, and features a kind of knitted stocking as a cover. The extremely strong woven textile mesh is tightly stretched across a CNC-machined framework in a perfect fit, with the overlapping of the different layers of mesh creating attractive moiré effects. The cover makes for a pleasantly soft seat and replaces the thick padding of traditional armchairs. At the same time it lends the large chair a great deal of lightness while using minimal material.

Benjamin Hubert says of the chair: “The entire construction is inspired by the sports and camping sector. As the armchair is very lightweight, I can carry it from A to B and even use it on the terrace, for example. “Membrane” offers maximum comfort with a minimal carbon footprint.”

**Cradle for Moroso**

As we all know, Moroso continually sets standards when it comes to relaxing seating that looks exciting and makes original use of materials. Now the Italians have commissioned Benjamin Hubert to design a lounge chair. “Cradle” is a fusion of two types of seating, namely a woven hammock and a conventional upholstered armchair. The model is once again based on one of Hubert’s studies; in this case one exploring the relationships between the traditional individual components of an item of seating furniture.

Hubert created a backrest using a woven, non-elastic fabric, whose pattern results from special cut-outs and has a 3D effect. The material gently and comfortably supports the user’s body. “Cradle” seems familiar and yet is innovative in terms of use of materials and processing technology. (ua)

[www.benjaminhubert.co.uk](http://www.benjaminhubert.co.uk/)
[www.classicon.com](http://www.classicon.com/)
[www.moroso.it](http://www.moroso.it)

![](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/articles/2013/membrane-and-cradle-benjamin-hubert-modulates-materials/l2_v340600_958_800_800-2.jpg)Structure of the armchair "Cradle", photo © Moroso