Véla Chair
A chair made with a fishing net on a journey from Iceland to Paris.
THE NET THAT LIVES ON
About the project
“Véla” is a chair design with fishing net on a journey from Iceland to Paris and hopefully to Poland soon.
The inspiration for this chair came from a moment on a reflection on a walk with Víkur (my dog) on remote Icelandic beach, where we found a tangle of fishing net laying there abandoned. Rather than see it as waste, it was seen as material - ready to be reimagined, not melted down. This chair project was meant to give this net a second life, a purpose and highlight its history and imperfections in a way that anyone could find useful and
Véla
“Véla” in Icelandic means "Tangle" or "Mesh." The name of the project highlights the structure of the fishing net as it’s base and the idea of something interconnected and very strong.
The most impactful ocean waste
Every year, thousands of tons of fishing nets are lost or discarded into the ocean, creating what is known as "ghost gear" which is ultimately a deadly threat to marine life and one of the most persistent pollutants in our waters. Most commonly used nets in the fishing industry are made of nylon (plastic) due to material durability and low cost which makes it also difficult to compete with as there are already different solutions available but not at the scale or cost comparable to using nylon nets.
How do they get lost? easy. It takes a boat fishing on herring that encounters a pod of orcas keen on damaging the net, rough sea conditions, operator’s mistake, there can be various reasons for nets to be damaged and once the net is damaged it is not an easy task to just pick it up back from the water. There are places with "net cemeteries” meaning that the local boat traffic might be even aware of the floating nets in the area but the equipment needed, human work and the general cost of these operations may not be on a daily schedule to fix the situation, especially in open waters.
While several companies have begun recycling fishing nets into raw materials and fighting the problem on a big scale in a priceless way like Mater or Bracenet this process is still not available to everyone - and requires energy-intensive post-production - while the abandoned nets unfortunately are available for everyone.
“Véla” was meant to incorporate the net leftovers into something as simple & useful as a chair - something that anyone can resonate with without any postprocessing.
The net was picked up on the beach in North of Iceland and sent to Paris, where prototype development took 3 attempts in full scale.
Coming soon
If you’d like to learn more about the project or the studio please contact us directly.