This inflatable furniture has an invisible innovation that makes it more than just a grown-up Y2K throwback

FastCompany: The concept of inflatable furniture typically brings to mind a teenager’s room in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Think translucent, cheap, and disposable; built for the short lifespan of a trend phase rather than the long-term needs of an adult furnishing their home. Now, a French furniture manufacturer is upgrading the product category with furniture that blows up—but is durable and aesthetic enough for actual outdoor, backyard seating.

Airmaan’s new three-seat M Sofa and its N Chair inflate in just a few seconds, and in promotional materials, the brand touts them as “your living room everywhere” with shots of the furniture poolside, beachside, and perched on a mountain’s edge. Light enough to pack, they can act like camp seating for outdoor adventures in the sand, dirt, or snow, while still looking sophisticated enough for a backyard pool. [Photo: Airmaan] A Kickstarter campaign ended in May for the M Sofa, which is now selling for $435, and the N Chair, for $329.

The first shipment batch is scheduled to ship at the end of June and preorders are still open on the brand’s website. “Our goal was to create furniture that could genuinely compete with traditional furniture in terms of comfort, aesthetics, durability, and functionality while remaining lightweight and portable,” Johan Faure-Brac, a founder of Airmaan, tells Fast Company . [Photo: Airmaan] Faure-Brac cofounded Airmaan in 2016 as a response to the environmental, logistical, and societal challenges with traditional furniture that’s bulky, and expensive and difficult to move.

Inflatable furniture had been tried before, but he didn’t feel the solution existed yet. [Photo: Airmaan] And there have been many attempts. The designer Quasar Khanh made inflatable furniture in the 1960s . During the ’90s and Y2K heyday of inflatable furniture, there was the iconic Britney Spears – branded inflatable chair with a flower pattern pulled from her first CD. Even Ikea has flirted with the idea. The IKEA a.i.r, named for “air is a resource,” was an inflatable couch promoted in the company’s 2000 catalogue. It was discontinued because it easily deflated and customers returned it frequently.

(Ikea’s latest attempt at an inflatable chair this year uses inflatable cushions that fit inside a chair frame.) [Photo: Airmaan] Airmaan says inflatable furniture needs to be reinflated only rarely over the course of the year, and its return rate is low: just one return so far in three years of commercial sales. [Photo: Airmaan] The brand’s furniture is designed with high-strength technical fabrics.

Instead of simply using air chambers like past inflatable furniture , it features an inner architecture made with drop-stitching, a construction method found in military-grade inflatables like wings, boat floors, or paddle boards that uses thousands of fibers to connect the top and bottom of a fabric; the tension helps hold everything in place. There was no established process for using the method to fashion complex three-dimensional furniture shapes, though, Faure-Brac says.

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The article discusses an innovative approach to inflatable furniture that combines nostalgia with modern functionality, which is significant for the design industry but may not have widespread implications for brand strategy professionals.