In Conversation with Albert Wolstenholme
Every summer, 'New Designers' brings together some of the UK’s most promising graduating designers, giving them the opportunity to exhibit their final projects before stepping into professional practice. It’s a chance to see the ideas, craftsmanship and thinking that will shape the next generation of British design.
This year, I was lucky enough to meet Albert Wolstenholme who has just graduated from Northumbria University with a BA (Hons) in 3D Design. His final project, Sweep Lounge, is a beautiful lounge chair that, despite being entirely contemporary, shares many of the principles found in the midcentury furniture we restore every day at A Fold of Chairs.
The chair is designed to be dismantled, making it easier to manufacture, transport, repair and, importantly, reupholster. It immediately reminded me of manufacturers such as France & Søn, whose furniture from the 1950s and 60s embraced many of the same ideas. Long before sustainability became a buzzword, these companies were creating furniture that could be repaired, recovered and passed from one generation to the next.
I was fascinated that a designer graduating in 2026 had arrived at such similar conclusions, so I asked Albert if he’d be willing to have a conversation about designing for longevity, making, materials and what today’s designers might still learn from the past.
Tell us a little about yourself. What drew you towards furniture design?
Growing up I was always making things through various means whether it was Lego sets or baking cakes! But my passion for design and furniture making began to take off throughout my experience in secondary school and into sixth form, from Y10 I began doing 3D design and that was when I began to be able to explore the skills and possibilities of design and my passion for the subject to truly flourish.
When I first saw your chair, I immediately thought about the Danish manufacturers we work with every day. Were there any designers or movements that influenced you, or did you arrive at this way of thinking independently?
Yes, my project initially stemmed from an investigation into a design principle called soft minimalism which is the idea of designs using the sleek styling of traditional minimalism but trying to have a more emotional and softer feel to it.
Norm architects are one of the key writers of this movement and they have based a lot of their work around it.
The style has clear ties with the ideas of traditional Danish design such as Carl Hansen and Son and a lot of inspiration for the sweep of the chair came from exploring their CH290 chair, as its use of the seat as a continuity throughout the chair was a feature I loved and felt it would be great to apply to my own design.
One thing I loved was that the chair can be completely dismantled. Was that an important principle from the beginning?
It was not an initial aim of the project as it initially started as an investigation into how circular design principles could impact a contemporary lounge chair.
From these principles the idea of not using any glue started to be considered as trying to make an object able to be fully disassembled meant creating something that didn't use permanent adhesives. It then became a question of whether solely fixings could be used to construct the design. This led to exploration of different joints and fixings and the technical challenge of how these could work to meet both the structural and aesthetic requirements of the design.
So much furniture today feels almost disposable. Do you think we’ve lost something by designing products that can’t easily be repaired?
I think the issues of ‘fast furniture’ are becoming increasingly apparent with companies pushing the ideas of having cheap and easily replaceable furniture at the touch of a screen.
However, it is about trying to increase the conversation around making designs and products to last and how especially as an up and coming designer, how I can try and base my practice around trying to do more to stop this.
The issues of these new products not being able to be repaired comes primarily from the use of unremovable upholstery or using plastic based wood veneers which allows for the products to be cheaper as the quality of the objects is decreased but it means that they can’t be recycled or repurposed and just end up in a landfill.
The upholstery is removable too, which obviously caught my attention! Why was it important that the cushions could be replaced rather than fixed permanently?
With the cushions I knew that I wanted them to be able to be removed and not permanently fixed to the design to work with the sustainable aims of the chair.
This started as a few different ideas of using buttons or zips to be able to hold the cushions in place or even just having a simple tie which could be knotted around the timber.
But then, as the ergonomics and form of the chair developed and with my conversations with the graduate of my course who I worked with for the upholstery of the chair it became apparent that the cushions would be able to just sit as they do on the chair which was great as it not only solved the question of how they would attach but again helped tie in the upholstery with the overall theme of the project.
How did you balance aesthetics with engineering? The chair feels very simple, but I imagine there was a huge amount of problem solving behind that simplicity.
This was a key element of the design balancing the relationship between aesthetic needs and the technical challenge of using no glue, and I think that it where the charm of the design comes from the visual clarity of it while having such thought through joinery and fixings is a testament to the time spent deliberating each element and balancing the want for aesthetics with the necessity for strength and structure.
Your Instagram shows quite a lot of the making process. How important is making prototypes with your own hands?
I have to be working in 3D and with my hands, using 2D for early idea iteration such as sketching and CAD are helpful, the majority of the development came from working at scale.
One of the strengths of the design is the ergonomics as while this chair primarily needed to achieve its goals for circular principles and the technical challenge of no glue, it didn’t mean that the comfort of the design had to be forfeited.
The process of reaching the final shape and position of the design came from building a full-scale pine prototype of the chair which allowed for the backrest to be moved and propped at different positions to reach the perfect angle which you just wouldn't be able to know if you were staring at a computer screen.
Working with my hands was also great when working on the joinery of the design as been able to work out the tolerances of the joints and the correct dimensions for the CNC was only possible through quite a laborious stage of trial and error to see how the wood behaved and how it worked in tandem with itself without the use of glue.
Was there a moment during the project where something didn’t work and forced you back to the drawing board?
The lack of glue was obviously a key element which kept me occupied throughout the whole process and created obstacles that I had to tackle.
As when glue is removed from the joinery issues arise that you wouldn’t typically face if you were using glue. One such issue being the fact that when you glue a joint, if it's not fully flush you can sand it down and hide any imperfections, however, when you aren’t using glue, this isn’t possible. So you have to rely on using radiuses and tolerances to create a design which still looks finished and professional, so overcoming this was an area that required a lot of rethinking and deliberation.
If this chair still exists in fifty or sixty years’ time, what do you hope will have happened to it?
This chair is made to last, it's made so that in fifty or sixty years it may not be exactly the same chair, but it will have been repaired and had parts replaced and it could have a whole new visual identity due to its ability to be refinished and reupholstered.
Which I think is what is so special about the design as it allows the consumer to tailor it to their needs and their wants which should mean it is able to last for as long as possible.
When people talk about sustainability they often focus on materials. Do you think longevity is actually the more important conversation?
This is obviously a key question of sustainability as it is undeniable that material selection is of paramount importance for designing.
However, I think that sustainable design could be separated into two ideas of start of life and end of life as material selection can be the element which makes a design sustainable whether it’s responsibly sourced material such as the FSC certified Oak in this design or a recycled material such as the Camira’s ReSKU 2.0 range which is what was used on the upholstery which is made fully from recycled workshop waste.
I believe that a design’s need for circular design and the second life of a design is as important if not more so than its initial material selection. I feel that where a design can excel in its sustainability is its second life as if you start with a set amount of Carbon emitted from the construction and materials of a design the best way to reduce its overall carbon impact is to ensure the longevity of a design and ensure its design allows for it.
Finally, what’s next? Is Sweep Lounge the beginning of a collection?
I think there‘s a future for developing a range for the Sweep Lounge especially after some great conversations at New Designers.
In particular, utilising the fact of having disassemble and removable parts it would be great to try to develop more designs such as a two-seater sofa and an ottoman or footstool which would be made using the same parts as the Sweep Lounge and aim to have the designs using the same universal parts across the range, which again would be good for reducing waste but also helping to keep the circular economy of the designs.
There are also opportunities with materials as it would be interesting to explore how new materials could be applied to the principles of the Sweep and whether new plastic composites could be used to create an outdoor version of the chair or even applying the principles used to create a cafe chair or a table and chairs for the garden.
I think what excites me the most about the future is the ability to continue adapting and continue exploring what is possible and continue working on design that I am passionate about and hopefully benefit the industry.
