Featuring a slender base that opens into a wide, stipule-like seat, the Bow chair has a pointedly botanical quality, although the material from which it’s made – 3D-printed bioplastic – is decidedly futuristic. Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and produced by Spanish newcomer Nagami, Bow is the product of a shared captivation with exploring and exploiting the ability of digital design and robotics to shape spaces and products.

Founded two years ago by Manuel Jimenez García, Miki Jimenez García and Ignacio Viguera Ochoa, Nagami printed ZHA’s design using a pellet extruder and polylactic acid plastic, a biodegradable material that incorporates such renewable sources as corn starch. Deceptively sturdy, the peculiar perch is distinguished by translucent black striations – a digitized interpretation of a natural growth process found in marine ecosystems and coral reefs. The chair comprises one fourth of Nagami’s debut collection, unveiled this spring during Milan Design Week.

This story was taken from the June 2018 issue of Azure. Buy a copy of the issue here, or subscribe here.