Open Chair
Dezeen Competitions: Creathlon Competitions has launched Open Chair, an international ideas competition challenging creatives to design a full-scale 3D-printed chair.
The competition invites designers to rethink furniture fabrication using standard home FDM printers.
Organiser: Creathlon Competitions
Co-organiser: Aibuild
Competition: Open Chair
Judges:
- Michail Desyllas, co-founder and COO, Aibuild
- Vaishnavi Deo, senior creative engineer, Aibuild
- Sebastián Andía, senior associate, ZHA
- Jillian Nishi, senior designer, ZHA
- Andreas Palfinger, architectural designer and creative influencer
- Andrei Oțet, co-founder, Phenomena Laboratory
Registration deadline: 22 October 2026
Prizes: first prize will receive £600, second prize will receive £300, and third prize will receive £100, plus honourable mentions and certificates
Competition overview
Open Chair is an international ideas competition organised by Creathlon Competitions in partnership with Aibuild.
It invites architects, designers, engineers, makers and creative thinkers to design a full-scale chair that can be fabricated using a standard home FDM 3D printer, assembled with minimal tools and shared digitally for others to reproduce.
The competition explores the intersection of design and digital fabrication, challenging participants to balance design quality with printability, assembly logic, structural intent and reproducibility.
Participants are encouraged to rethink how furniture can be designed, fabricated and shared through the principles of Open Design.
Information on how to enter is available on the competition's website.
Eligibility and judging criteria
Open Chair is open worldwide to students, graduates, professionals, designers, architects, engineers, makers and other creative disciplines, entering either individually or as part of a team.
All participants must be 18 years of age or older at the time of registration.
Participants must design a full-scale chair intended for fabrication using a standard home FDM 3D printer. The design must be divided into printable components that fit within standard printer build-volume constraints and assemble into a self-supporting chair.
Required submission materials include two STL files (assembled chair and printable parts), an A2 landscape presentation board detailing design visuals and assembly guides, a project description of up to 500 words, and an A2 portrait poster showing the final design image.
The proposals will be judged on:
- Printability and system logic: how effectively the chair is divided into printable components and responds to the constraints of home 3D printing
- Assembly and clarity: the quality and sophistication of the assembly strategy, connections and communication
- Functionality and stability: whether the chair demonstrates a believable structural strategy and can realistically stand independently and maintain its intended form
- Design quality and intent: the strength of the design concept, form, proportions and overall resolution
- Accessibility and reproducibility: whether others can reasonably understand, reproduce and build the design using accessible tools and equipment
Submission deadlines
Registration closes on 22 October 2026, and the final project submission deadline is 6 November 2026.
Winners will be announced on 12 January 2027.
About Creathlon Competitions
Creathlon Competitions organises international architecture and design competitions that invite emerging and established creatives to explore contemporary design challenges and innovative ideas.
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