balboa a simple and elegant rocking chair connecting 4 slabs of bamboo ply, ready to assemble out of the box.
Designed By: Shaheera Crawford.
Materials: Bamboo ply and raw brass.
the story of Balboa
“I was watching a TikTok and saw a colourful resin rocking chair. I thought it was really interesting. One of the important design directions of lood is that the product must be able to be shipped. I started to research available rocking chair options, and discovered that there were few flat pack rocking chairs."
“I am not trained as a designer and was nervous to present my idea to the team. I thought that design always involved something new. I didn’t believe that design was a part of my mindset let alone skill set.”
“I chose bamboo from the selection suggested by our material experts. I liked its look and feel and that it is a durable and sustainable material.”
We then moved onto designing a system to attach each piece together. The fixings were initially plain screws, these were then further developed to be a brass decorative cap. To improve the comfort of Balboa, we added an upholstered seat and back pad.
When naming our rocking chair, the word ‘Rocky’ was an obvious suggestion. This lead to Rocky Balboa, and the name balboa was chosen. We thought it was amusing.
balboa has an upholstered seat and back cushion that is available in a range of colours. Alternatively, you can specify a fabric or leather and we can quote a custom chair for you.
The social, physical and cognitive benefits to people of all ages from rocking in a chair are well documented.
Academic research has quantified the impact of rocking on improvements in sleep quality and faster onset of sleep in infants and adults. Other research identifies that rocking in a rocking chair can improve emotional wellbeing.
