Revolt by Friso Kramer for Ahrend, relaunched together with HAY

A new addition to the ongoing series of relaunches by HAY and Ahrend and a cousin to the Result Chair, the iconic Revolt Chair embodies designer Friso Kramer’s distinctively innovative, minimalist style. Distinguished by its flexible back, its versatility, and its extreme comfort, Revolt is perfectly suited to the dynamic nature of the contemporary lifestyle, as it can be used in various settings and many contexts, from office work to studying or even long evenings at the dining table with guests.

Pictures by HAY and Ahrend

Revolt utilizes a mix of virgin and recycled ABS for its seat and back

Why have you decided to add Revolt to the HAY furniture collection?

Rolf Hay: The Result Chair would never have existed without the Revolt Chair, which came first. Our goal is to build up a collection of HAY relaunches of classic Friso Kramer products. I consider them to be absolutely important chairs in the history of contemporary European design. Then obviously, when you consider relaunching something which already has been in production, you need to consider: is there anything we can put into this chair from our own time? And we were very sure about that from the beginning because we wanted to introduce this chair with a reused material. We wanted to produce the seat and the back from reused plastic material. That’s 2020 content, and a 2020 contribution to this historic chair, it’s about creating a chair with a higher sustainability profile.

Revolt / rice seat / beige powder coated steel base

Revolt / azure seat / black powder coated steel base

What is noteworthy about Revolt, in the history or design?

Rolf Hay: What I like about Friso Kramer’s work, is that he was approaching design in a way I feel connected to. He cared about creating something that could be manufactured in a large capacity, in order to make a high-quality product that would be cost efficient for a larger audience. He was doing something in a new and different way, he was always innovating. Normally these chairs would be made from steel tube, which is extremely complicated to develop. But he made them from bent steel sheet. Each element here is pressed, but when that is done then it’s easy to produce. Steel sheet is 70% less expensive than a steel tube, and it makes a product that is very light and very strong. Friso was obsessed by creating products with nearly an endless lifetime.

Friso Kramer

Revolt / plum red seat / black steel base

Revolt / petrol green seat / black steel base

Revolt / black seat / black steel base

How would you describe Revolt?

Rolf Hay: This chair is unique, it’s independent. It’s without any references. Nothing in the world looks like this chair. And when you create a frame like this, you create a frame that can live forever. It has a flexible back, it’s the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in.

Revolt / azure seat / black powder coated steel

Revolt / azure seat / black steel base

Variants