Registration Deadline: Oct 22, 2026; Submission Deadline: Nov 6, 2026
A Global Design Competition, in Partnership with Aibuild
Open Chair is a global ideas competition inviting architects, designers, makers, engineers,
and creative thinkers to reimagine one of the oldest objects in human
history through the lens of digital fabrication and open design.
With the rise of desktop manufacturing
and accessible digital fabrication, the way we design and make objects
is changing once again. Open Chair challenges participants to explore
this new frontier by designing a full-scale chair that can be fabricated
using a standard home 3D printer, assembled with minimal tools, and
shared freely as an open design. This is not simply a challenge of
aesthetics. It is a challenge of systems thinking, fabrication strategy,
assembly logic, and design excellence.
Participants
are invited to create proposals that balance beauty with buildability,
developing chairs that are not only visually compelling, but also
realistically printable, constructible, and reproducible. Whether your
proposal is minimal or complex, experimental or conventional, what matters is the clarity of the idea and the intelligence of its execution.
The
competition is open internationally to students, graduates,
professionals, makers, and multidisciplinary teams. Selected projects
will receive exposure through Creathlon’s platforms, with money awards presented to the winning proposals.
Submission Requirements
2× 3D Print Files | A2 Board | Project Description | A2 Poster
Key Dates
• Registration Closes: 22 October 2026
• Submission Deadline: 6 November 2026
• Winners Announced: 12 January 2027
Prizes
• 1st Prize: £600 + Certificate
• 2nd Prize: £300 + Certificate
• 3rd Prize: £100 + Certificate
• Honourable Mentions
Registration Fees
• Early Bird: £5 Single / £10 Team
• Regular: £15 Single / £25 Team
• Late: £25 Single / £35 Team
Jury
• Michail Desyllas – Co-Founder and COO, Aibuild
• Vaishnavi Deo – Senior Creative Engineer, Aibuild
• Sebastián Andía – Senior Associate, ZHA
• Jillian Nishi – Senior Designer, ZHA
• Andreas Palfinger – Architectural Designer / Creative Influencer
• Andrei Oțet – Co-Founder Phenomena Laboratory
Are you ready to rethink how furniture is designed, fabricated, and shared?
Design a chair. Print it. Build it. Share it.
Register and learn more: