Easy Rider

Danny Venlet studied interior architecture at Sint-Lucas in Brussels and afterwards moved to Australia - where he grew up as a child of Dutch parents on a sheep farm.

In 1988 he set up 'Venlet lnterior Architecture', currently with a seat in Brussels and one in Sydney. He cooperated with Marc Newson, and designed interiors lor hotels, restaurants and stores in particular. His reputation was boosted in 1990 when he was commissioned to do the interior decoration of the bar of the art deco Burdekin Hotel in Sydney. The furniture is most of the time also designed by Danny Venlet. The Burdekin seat shows his typical style: funny, technically superior and also functional. His furniture is mainly characterised by wavy lines and organic shapes.

In the middle of the nineties Danny Venlet comes back to Belgium. In the beginning, he explores the market with designs he made in Australia, then he becomes a teacher and afterwards he steals the scene together with Dirk Meylaerts, Olivier Gilson and Roland Matélé at design fairs as "Design Doctor ... The most striking interior in Belgium is the "Man_Chi", a men's massage parlour in Antwerp. Man_Chi means man-healthy and is focused on men who want to get rid of stress. The therapy is based on massage which goes from the back to the head. Danny developed a sealing unit for this kind of massage, namely the Man_Chi seat. The upper surface makes it possible to let your arms and head rest. During the massage, people talk with each other or drink a cup of coffee.

The shape of the Easy Rider is derived from the Man_Chi. Like the massage seat, you can sit in several ways on the "Easy Rider". A way to make the Western people move a little bit. The "Easy Rider" also responds totally to the mobility of its owner. By means of the wheels, you can go everywhere you want, even when you sit down. You just roll to the closest internet connection and you plug in your laptop. Or during a meeting you can come closer to or go further away from your colleagues "Easy Rider" strengthens this social interaction consciously.

This open circle with a sunken sitting part looks like an easy clubbing seat in which you can sit comfortably and read a book. In this case, it should be a seat with broad arms, on which you can leave your book and on which you can put a notebook. The Easy Rider can become the desk of the future. For homework, inside the house or outside when the weather is nice, its only recognizable as a desk when you open your laptop and. Once you've finished your work, it can become a seat in which you can read, drive or day-dream. The seat was the official seat of lnterieur 2002 and gained the Red Dot Design Award. So it's not surprising that it also scoops the Henry van de Velde Award 2003 for Best Product.