Holqa – Inclusion Through Seating Systems

Holqa is a word originating from Maltese, which means a link or connection. This is the concept that is portrayed through the design of Holqa, the seating system. Where separate pieces come together to form various compositions in an inclusive manner.

We started this semester project by discussing the question What is Care? Throughout this research I learnt that the concept of care to me, is something one can achieve as a community, by observing each other with empathy and giving each other what is truly needed. Care is about creating an environment where people feel comfortable and valued. This concept heavily affected my design work and the message I wanted to relay throughout my chair. I wanted to create something which makes the user feel included and thought of.

Upon this, one notices that the general problem when it comes to design for health care furniture is that apart from lacking in variety, most of the time the objects are mainly functional with little to no importance to aesthetics. With this project I intended to break this tradition by meeting the needs of a diverse audience whilst also keeping aesthetics in mind.