Mandarin chairs feature a single steel tube curving beautifully around the seatback and seat cushion to form armrests. Their vibrant colors and fabrics are said to express the personalities of their owners.

Mandarin chairs are the work of Italian designer Ettore Sottsass, who founded the multinational Memphis Group design collaborative in the 1980s. Many fans still admire the unique coloring and geometric patterns.

Textile designer Yuki Fujisawa recently took on the challenge of renewing the material on three Mandarin chairs. Making full use of the rich color variations of Ultrasuede®, she replaced signature Memphis geometric dots and borders with a YUKI FUJISAWA brand lace and foil motif.

Her orange and blue Mandarin chair, inspired by refreshing Memphis coloring, features a suede texture on the armrests created with Ultrasuede® and a lace silkscreen technique. All three chairs prepared using such experimental techniques were displayed at the Interior Lifestyle Tokyo exhibition in June 2017 and drew much attention from visitors who couldn’t resist touching the fabrics.

This was the first time Fujisawa worked on product design. As a designer who treasures color, she was inspired by the beautiful coloring and rich variations of Ultrasuede®, as well as by the vibrant personality of Mandarin chairs. “It was a fresh experience to work on a three-dimensional object because the texture and pattern of the material look different than when placed on a flat surface,” she shared. “I hope to continue combining vintage furniture design and new fabrics in the future.”