Making of: Sofa SEAT 600
In 2007, while immersed in creating pieces of furniture and decoration from reclaimed materials, we decided to begin with the prototype of the actual Scooter Chair. As lovers of the iconic scooter by Corradino D’Ascanio, this project meant more to us than just repurposing an old vehicle. The day we received our first Vespa chassis, reclaimed from a scrapyard, we knew straight away that this was going to be a piece that would change the game for us. Our way of bringing this piece back to life was to create a swivel chair that would end up becoming one of our most iconic and recognizable pieces, The Scooter Chair.
The original repurposed chassis, which was cut in half and with layers upon layers of rust, became our newest canvas. After hours of research and endless sketches, we decided to recover what we thought was one of the most recognizable parts of the original Scooter: the front flap. And turn it into a piece that could serve not only as a decorative item, but also as a functional piece of furniture.
The flat front flap of the Vespa, which gives the scooter an aerodynamic look, serves as a protection for the legs and a cover for the steering column, is without a doubt one of the parts that the iconic scooter is most known for. It holds the famous emblems, as well as the blinkers, making it an essential part of any scooter, but especially this one.
To create the Scooter Chair, we decided to use the naturally curved shape of the front flap, which turns into the footrest where the brake pedal is located. This shape resembled that of a chair with the bottom and backrest parts. So after painstakingly removing it from the rest of the pieces, we were left with the skeleton, which was now going to serve as the center part of our new creation. The challenge became turning it into a premium swivel chair, which would be not only comfortable but also visually appealing.
We engineered a mechanism by which we could mold a piece of plywood to fit perfectly into the original curved flap, a piece that would allow us to attach a bottom and a back cushion which could be upholstered with premium real or faux leather. To make the chair stand properly, we also engineered a way of attaching it to a hydraulic chromed valve, which would regulate the height of the chair like any other office chair. To top if off we added soft-tread wheels and the Scooter Chair finally had the shape of a real chair.
The extra details are where the differences are made, we decided to keep the blinkers and even give them the possibility of functioning with a small switch and a battery incorporated. We also reused the original brake pedal and turned it into the height regulator. Add premium upholstery, a top-quality paint and our Scooter chair came to life.
After years of production, the Scooter Chair has been heavily modified and the processes have improved to what it is today, a beautiful piece of decoration that has now been included in the Piaggio museum as a way of recognizing its uniqueness as a tribute to the original Vespa Scooter.
