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The PLOPP stool is a story of technology, deformation, and fulfilled dreams. It is the story of an object that was an experiment of a young assistant at ETH Zurich, and is now part of the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
We tell this story under a pretext. The PLOPP stool is one of 100 objects included in the exhibition summarizing the first 25 years of SaloneSatellite, Permanent Collection 1998–2024, which has travelled abroad for the first time and reached Hong Kong in early November.
At first glance, PLOPP has been the same for almost two decades. But the colour variants, functions, and materials have changed. There is a PLOPP barstool version, neon and aluminium versions, and the miniature “Ploppy.” But ever since the first version of the standard PLOPP stool, careful observers will notice a narrative about the process of steel stabilization, and numerous trials and errors.
The PLOPP stool was created in 2005. In 2007, it debuted at SaloneSatellite in Milan. In 2008 it won the Red Dot Design Award and the German Design Council Award, and the Forum AID Award in 2009. In a nutshell, those were the first years in the career of this iconic stool. But these are merely headlines in its fascinating process of evolution.
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Indeed, error is one of the foundations of the proprietary FiDU technology. The DIN 8580 standard, so strongly rejected by engineers, treated as incorrect deformation, became a fascinating imperfection for Oskar Zięta. He got freedom to explore from Professor Ludger Hovestadt. And as the effect of his insightful and experimental studies at the CAAD and ITA faculties at ETH Zurich, the PLOPP stool was born. A manifesto stool. An iconic stool. A fresh start.
PLOPP is made of two flat metal membranes, 0.8 cm thick. The sheets are tightly welded at the edges, and then stabilize into a three-dimensional stool shape in the process of deformation by internal pressure. The key moment is the bending of the legs.
At first, PLOPP had four legs. But it quickly turned out that the unevenness resulting from the process of spontaneous deformation of the material sacrificed its stability. In short, it wobbled. Today, PLOPP has three support points. Not only does it stand stably on three legs, but it can withstand a load of 2.5 tonnes.
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The solution developed by Zięta stabilizes the entire structure and allows the curved places on the surface to “enter” one into the other, and requires only a subtle weld. All forces acting on the material move upwards, after which they are concentrated, and accumulated from the seat through the bent “nose” and from the “U” shape formed by the legs. It sounds trivial, but this solution is so ingenious that professors from the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering could not believe that Zięta had achieved this effect while still a student, and without using tools.
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Experiments on this solution were ongoing from the very beginning, but it appeared in production only after almost 300 products. And so today all PLOPPs, including aluminium ones, have “noses” under the seat. The first PLOPPs did not deform in this way, which is why they required welding of almost the entire area of deformation of the bend of the legs at the seat, which today allows for quick recognition of objects from the first production series.
During the evolution, different versions of PLOPP appeared. The early ones had sharp legs that narrowed towards the bottom. Earlier examples were deformed with water, not air, continuing to use hydroforming, the Innenhochdruckumformen (IHU) technology which was the starting point for creation of the proprietary Freie Innendruck Umformung (FiDU) technology, which fascinates Zięta to this day.
During the evolution, different versions of PLOPP appeared. The early ones had sharp legs that narrowed towards the bottom. Earlier examples were deformed with water, not air, continuing to use hydroforming, the Innenhochdruckumformen (IHU) technology which was the starting point for creation of the proprietary Freie Innendruck Umformung (FiDU) technology, which fascinates Zięta to this day.
Despite being highly technological, PLOPP quickly stole the hearts of designers. And Oskar Zięta, as one of the creators, fulfilled the mission for which Marva Griffin launched SaloneSatellite in 1998. This part of the Salone del Mobile Milano fair, for young designers, has always brought together fresh, interesting and often experimental projects whose designers dreamed of their own stand at Salone del Mobile.
“We called it ‘Satellite,’ but it has become a universe.”
~Beppe Finessi
The PLOPP project fondly recalls how the Milan fair was still held in the city centre, at the stadium. In 1999, Oskar Zięta had visited Salone for the first time, and that was where he lifted Gio Ponti’s Superleggera chair for the first time. He fell in love, and he had a dream. After almost 20 years, he became the first Polish company in Hall 16 at Salone del Mobile, exhibiting his Ultraleggera, which broke the lightweight record set by the Italian designer for Cassina.
Discover the record-holder →
Discover the record-holder →
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Zięta knew that the exhibition at SaloneSatellite was an undertaking requiring considerable logistics. He also realized there would be less than 10 days to get everything ready. He spent the weekend thinking and planning. The decision was difficult but rational: turn down the invitation. Immediately he got another phone call, with the message: The opportunity is now and may not come again. You have to strike while the iron is hot! And so it happened.
Zięta’s decision to apply for SaloneSatellite was spontaneous. Marva Griffin quickly contacted him, stating that the next edition was out of the question…. But as fate would have it, a free spot opened up, and Zięta received a Friday call saying that there was a stand for him, but he had to decide by Monday. Zięta was ready with the object. He was prepared technologically and experimentally.
The premiere of PLOPP in Milan turned out to be a spectacular success. The same year, Zięta received the first serial order of 200 stools, from Stephan Dornhofer at Magazin. After the fair, 50 PLOPP stools were also made to order for ThyssenKrupp, and later the stools were sent to the IdeenPark festival, where Zięta performatively pumped them on a specially prepared stage with the CEO of Nirosta.
Shortly afterwards, Oskar Zięta met Stephan Dornhofer and Rolf Hay in Munich. This turned into a permanent collaboration with the Danish company Hay, and so PLOPP joined the permanent collection, and together with Hay it was entered for the Red Dot award. At that time, it was a unique piece designed for serial production, which took place in Poland from 2008, at Zięta’s newly established company Steelwerk in Zielona Góra, where Zieta Prozessdesign production is located to this day.
PLOPP travels to fairs, exhibitions and showrooms all over the world. Big names sit on it. It also does good, with the pink version supporting charity events. In 2015 the artist Pola Dwurnik created a series of comics dedicated to the stool, Golden Rain. And recently it became one of the main characters of the Zieta Illustrated project.
The following years saw an explosion in the stool’s popularity. In 2015, PLOPP entered the collection of the Museo Nazionale Scienza e Tecnologia Leonardo da Vinci in Milan. A year later, it entered the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. PLOPP also found a place in the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, as one of twelve chairs that changed contemporary design. The National Museum in Warsaw included it in the Gallery of Polish Design.
The stool also unapologetically addresses the narrative of sustainability. It is a monomaterial object—highly durable, but recyclable. An object that instead of 145 GB of manufacturing data takes up only 16 KB. And a package of 200 PLOPPs shipped to the far ends of the earth is only 20 cm high, because the stools are inflated on site.
And so PLOPP—the small, toy-like Polish People’s Air-Pumped Object—in various sizes and colours, in steel or aluminium, tells a story of the potential of FiDU technology and the determination to make dreams come true.
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