Vitra is one of the pioneers in the furniture industry, and its newly unveiled Bascule lounge chair is nothing but proof of the fact. Developed in collaboration with Lisa Ertel and Anne-Sophie Oberkrome of Studio Œ, Vitra took the curtains off its new sartorial chair in Copenhagen during the 2026 3daysofdesign. The unique chair design has already won our hearts, for it wears its upholstery like a jacket, and it wears it well.
The new Vitra Bascule lounge chair is soft, inviting, and familiar with its relaxed aesthetic and fashion-inspired textile upholstery. Its loose-fitting textile cover pairs with an innovative seating mechanism that automatically adapts to the sitter’s weight for intuitive, natural comfort. The Bascule chair allows for a fluid transition between upright and reclined positions, offering utmost ease.
The chair follows your body’s movement, and the upholstery moves with it. The designer duo brought Vitra’s idea of using a new seat mechanism for automatic weight adjustment to life, while simultaneously challenging conventional upholstery design standards.
Shedding the yoke of traditional upholstery and its constraints, the Bascule wears it fashionably well. The easy chair pairs the jacket-esque upholstery with an adjustable suspension system hidden under the surface.
Named for the French word for seesaw, the Bascule has a generously sized seat wrapped in a loosely cut textile cover that drapes over the frame like a jacket. Hiding within the armrests of the Bascule is the new Vitra mechanism, which responds to subtle shifts in the body weight. The slouchy, removable upholstery gently moves with the chair’s rocking, supporting a range of sitting positions.
The winter jacket inspired the innovative upholstery, originally designed for ease and freedom of movement. This fashion convenience translated smoothly into the chair’s design, wherein it responds to the chair’s reclining and upright positions. The best part is the varied textiles that produce distinct fold patterns and surface textures with each chair movement and change in form, enhancing its aesthetic and tactile qualities.
With an air of nonchalance, the Bascule lounge chair sits unassuming yet boldly fashionably in any space, awaiting you to sit and rock it for a break from the conventional. The chair can be customized with fabrics in a single color or in two shades for the inner and outer sides.
The Bascule comes in two different options: a high-back and a low-back version. The high-back version comes with an integrated height-adjustable neck cushion, lending the chair an anthropomorphic look. You can also opt for an aluminum swivel or a wooden base, and get it with either an ottoman or a bench to further enhance the comfort.
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It’s not just the outer appearance that has changed. Instead of its conventional polyurethane foams and permanently bonded components, Vitra switched to materials and construction techniques that enable repair, replacement, and eventual recycling, embracing circular design.
To further enable the circular economy in the chair’s anatomy, cushions are made from recycled fibers or V-Foam, a material by Vitra and BASF, which it describes as the world’s first economically recyclable polyurethane foam. This approach reflects Studio Œ’s ethos of honest, long-lasting design, as Wallpaper puts it. The removable upholstery aids in the cause.
The new Vitra Bascule lounge chair is designed to fit seamlessly into residential interiors and commercial settings. Officially launching in September 2026, the Bascule chair wears its jacket to give you an immersive sensory experience through its soft fabric. It strengthens Vitra’s position as a pioneer while adding something pleasant, charming, and unique to the brand’s humongous portfolio.
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