Mandy – A Sleek Easy Chair With Generous Shapes

Mandy is both sleek and wide, simple yet spectacular at the same time. Its frame is made of steel tubing, and a thin 3D-knitted upholstery stretches across the back. The rounded shapes sweep around the narrow backrest, allowing the armrests to extend forward like wings. The idea of creating a lightweight chair with a sense of volume was the starting point for Mandy’s development four years ago.

“It naturally led me to work with wing-like shapes to create a chair with volume without making it bulky. When Swedese and I discussed how to manufacture it, given its slender form, we started exploring this material,” says designer Roger Persson, running his hand over a knitted fabric sample.

That small piece of fabric has a fascinating story. It is knitted from SEAQUAL® YARN, made entirely from recycled plastic. Ten percent comes from marine plastic litter collected by the SEAQUAL Initiative, which works with NGOs, fishermen, communities, authorities and industries to help clean our oceans of marine litter. The remaining 90% comes from post-consumer PET.

To create the polyester threads used in the yarn, the plastic waste is shredded into small pieces, washed, heated, and finally spun into fine threads. The yarn is then 3D-knitted into Mandy’s unique upholstery by Camira Knit.

“New materials, new techniques, and environmental considerations were part of Mandy’s design process from the very beginning. It has been both a challenge and a completely new way of thinking—but that’s what made it so exciting,” says Roger Persson.

Using 3D-knitted upholstery eliminates fabric waste, as the textile is slipped onto the chair’s frame like a sweater.

“There are so many amazing aspects to this material. You don’t need molds, no padding is required, there’s no waste, the furniture is incredibly lightweight, and the fabric can even be ground down and reused.”

Mandy’s soft backrest, made possible by the 3D-knitted fabric, is both supportive and flexible when you lean back. The seat offers extra comfort thanks to pocket springs. The goal was not only to create an innovative piece but also a classic, comfortable easy chair.

“I wanted to design an armchair that fully utilizes this material while still evoking the feel of a truly comfortable chair. Mandy should spark curiosity, be visually striking, and—when you finally sit down—surprise you with just how incredibly comfortable it is,” says Roger Persson.

As for why it’s called Mandy—that’s another story involving stingrays, Barry Manilow, and Roger’s very first furniture piece, Happy.

Roger Persson was born in 1967 in Karlskrona. He studied industrial design at HDK – Academy of Design and Crafts at the University of Gothenburg and later pursued furniture design at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Since 2009, he has run his own studio, Roger Persson Design. For Swedese, he has designed the Happy, Bespoke, and Select furniture collections.