Circular Seating for a Circular Economy

— 20 February 2026


Maluma is a joyful, sectional seating system designed for the modern workplace. Consisting of a circular seat with rounded backrest, each seat can be connected to its neighbour to create free-form, bead-like strings of seating.

Embracing the shift from a linear model of ‘take, make, waste’, Maluma’s circular approach keeps product, components and materials in use over multiple life cycles. Designed for disassembly, every Maluma module can be deconstructed into mono materials, using simple hand tools.

Maluma looks like a very simple seating system, but it hides an inner structure that involved extensive product development. We painstakingly designed the Maluma to be resource efficient, and resource responsible - only taking what is needed, from the right places.

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The materials we chose were selected for their reduced impact compared to typical materials or are used in a way that minimises waste.

Maluma has a wooden frame cut from sustainably sourced spruce plywood, a faster growing species than the more commonly used beech plywood. Spruce is also 30% lighter, making Maluma less carbon hungry in all its transportation phases. The plywood used contains 50% bio-binder, resulting in less than half the embodied carbon of typical hardwood ply, further reducing embodied impacts.

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Meticulous nesting of frame components means each seat can be cut from just half a board, with cut pieces fitting together like a jigsaw puzzle and wooden dowels holding everything in place. Typically, all moulded foam seats have a steel frame over which the foam is moulded, however, Maluma is designed with a separate plywood frame over which the foam components of the seat and back fit.

 

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Each piece can be pulled off the frame, enabling easy refurbishment and separation into mono materials at end of life. To further support this, fabric covers can be replaced at each interior refresh, extending the product’s life. The steel tube legs are the final components in the construction of Maluma and secure everything in place.

In its design and construction Maluma becomes a material bank for the future, helping to protect resources and minimise embodied impacts. The innovative approach applied to the development of this seating system means every piece can be kept in use making Maluma the perfect design for a circular economy.

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