Interview about Akhalteke Lounge Chair, winner of the A' Furniture Design Award 2025
Akhalteke offers a unique sitting experience, evoking the sensation of riding a horse for the first time. Inspired by the designer's childhood horseback riding experiences and fascination with equine anatomy, the design establishes a two way interaction between the user and their experience. Drawing from the saddle, one of humanity's earliest seating forms, Akhalteke blends the comfort of a lounge chair with the essence of riding. The name comes from the Akhalteke, a breed of Turkmen horses, reflecting the design’s inspiration and dynamic form.
View detailed images, specifications, and award details on A' Design Award & Competition website.
View Design DetailsFirst of all, I just want to say how happy I am that the life of Akhalteke has started and keeps growing, bringing along lovely conversations and real friendships that mean a lot to me.I’ve always wondered: why do certain specific ways of sitting become the “standard”? Why don’t we treat sitting — like any other human behavior — as something with many possibilities? This thought got me digging into my own memories of how I’ve sat in different moments of life.And the one that stood out the most was sitting in full contact and rhythm with a living, breathing creature — the horse. That deep, instinctive connection was unlike anything else. It was the seed that eventually grew into the Akhalteke.
As I mentioned, in the design of Akhalteke, sitting is approached as an experience — not as a simple act.For me, experience is a continuous and dialectical interaction between the user and the environment (everything that is not the user).It is within this dynamic that each user forms a unique relationship with the object, and new postures of sitting emerge — postures that are directly shaped by this interaction with the object. Ultimately, a new experience is created.
I believe a designer’s honesty is most clearly reflected in their choice of materials.In the case of Akhalteke, without this specific type of material, a significant part of its identity would be compromised, for very clear, tangible reasons. That’s wh, the object itself demands the use of these materials as an essential part of what defines it.
When we speak of sitting as an experience — a continuous and dialectical interaction between subject and object — sitting transforms from a simple act into a moment of pause.It is in this pause that the seat (the object) becomes part of the quality and depth of this stillness within the user’s (the subject’s) everyday flow.And this is precisely the point where a mutual relationship begins — one that leads to a unique experience of pausing, embodied in a particular posture and form.
I believe that part of experiencing something is intuitive.The main goal and function of the Akhalteke was to create a new sitting experience for the user. As a result, I had to arrive at a form that also gave importance to each user’s intuitive perception.To reach the final form, I tried to express the abstraction that had taken shape in my mind in the simplest way possible.
The horse was one of the first animals that humans were able to domesticate during their evolutionary journey.Domesticating the horse played an indirect yet significant role in the emergence of civilizations. But what’s particularly noteworthy is that humans spent long periods of time on horseback — in different postures and with various experiences.And I believe that’s precisely what led me to rediscover this way of sitting, in a new form.
These dimensions, considering the limitations of the conceptual form and experience-based design, were not derived from anthropometric studies. Instead, they were achieved through trial and error, using prototypes at different scales and ultimately constructing a one-to-one model to attain the best possible expression of the final intended feel of the work.
Akhalteke is the name of one of the Turkmen horse breeds, known for its beauty and delicate anatomy.However, the reason for choosing this name was seeing the deep and meaningful connection between the Turkmen people and their horses.The horse plays an important role in their lives, and I was seeking that same depth of presence in the experience.
As a design student, one of my greatest wishes is to be able to provide a meaningful solution through the design process, rather than becoming part of the problem itself!I hope that instead of offering merely superficial, trend-driven forms in response to needs, we can give authenticity to the act of experiencing.
Sustainability can be found in the relationship between design and the user.I deeply believe that the deeper this connection is, the more successful the design will be in rising above being just a consumer product and gaining a longer lifespan.Therefore, I believe time can be the final element of design that exists outside the designer’s process.The longer a design can live based on a meaningful relationship with its user, the more sustainable it is.
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