The cooperation between BASF, industrial designer Konstantin Grcic and Italian furniture manufacturer Plank is a result of the Universal Days workshop.

With the designfabrik founded by BASF in 2006 - the focal point for industrial designers who wish to consult plastics experts on production processes, tool design etc. - the world's leading chemical company demonstrated that it intended to explore new routes in its market strategy. The close cooperation between designers, research facilities and manufacturers has proved extremely fruitful for all concerned. Materials manufacturers can get an impression of the requirements which designers and manufacturers have on their materials, and are able to adjust their research accordingly. In return designers receive an insight into the available technical possibilities, which provides them with new scope for their design operations.

The cooperation between BASF, the German industrial designer Konstantin Grcic and the Italian furniture manufacturer Plank came into being as a result of the Universal Days workshop, to which BASF invited a number of designers in order to present the new plastic Ultradur© High Speed to them.
This material, which is exceptionally fluid, was actually developed for the automotive sector and is intended to replace parts such as extrusion sections which are at the moment still made of aluminium. With Ultradur© High Speed they can be cast from a single mould.
After the first strategic discussions between Mr Grcic and BASF it became clear that a chair would be the best design to demonstrate the extraordinary mechanical characteristics and technical production advantages of this material. And in fact it seems that Konstantin Grcic wants to extract everything from the material which it can offer. With previously existing plastics it would not have been thinkable to produce the filigree cantilever chair in monoblock form, in other words using only a single mould. The net-like perforations on the seat and backrest of Grcic's design were only made possibility by the high degree of fluidity of the new material. Thanks to the committed work of the experienced BASF materials experts and plastics engineers, the series-production tooling for the Myto Chair was completed in the record time of one year. With some slight design changes, Plank - the furniture manufacturer was brought on board by Grcic right at the beginning of the project - will present the chair at the Milan Furniture Fair in April 2008.

to the Plank collection

Addition
Because the Myto chair is not ready for production yet, it will be shown in April at the Salone del Mobile in Milan