Daydreamer: A Speculative Pause in a Performance-Driven World by studio only only

In our hyper-connected age where productivity is paramount, Riga-based design studio onlyonly presents "Daydreamer" – a speculative seating piece covered in latex that challenges our relationship with rest and self-awareness. Created for Rotterdam Design Biennale 2025 responding to the theme "What's Real is Unfamiliar," this unconventional lounger invites a radical shift from constant performance to conscious pause.

"We wanted to create a piece that balances between the real and unfamiliar," explain designers Harijs Vucens and Anna Līva Traumane. "The chair guides the body into a distinctive posture that naturally separates the limbs, creating a physical experience that gently invites users into a calm yet unfamiliar space."

Daydreamer's form challenges conventional seating typologies. Hovering mere centimeters above ground on eight precision-engineered legs, its aerodynamic profile suggests motion while paradoxically inviting complete stillness. The top surface, composed of asymmetrical segments, creates distinct zones for different body parts – a deliberate fragmentation that heightens awareness of one's physical presence.

The piece embodies a compelling material duality. Its surface layer utilizes translucent natural latex, selected for its skin-like tactility and sustainable biodegradable material properties. Latex is a plant-based material, extracted from Hevea trees, and Daydreamer presents an alternative to animal and plastic materials, adding to conversations of material ecology and sustainability. This contrasts with the meticulously engineered stainless steel structure below, which maintains strength while achieving remarkable thinness. "It balances between industrially manufactured precision and carefully crafted character," note the designers.

This material dialogue reinforces the chair's conceptual foundation: an invitation to transform from unconscious observers of the world into subjects of our own mindful observation. Like the spontaneous act of lying on the floor, Daydreamer disrupts habitual patterns and creates space for self-reflection.

As onlyonly's first exploration with latex, the piece represents a new direction for the Baltic studio while continuing their investigation of transmorphic design – an approach that transforms references from diverse fields into compelling spatial experiences. "The latex, eerily reminiscent of human skin, remains artificial—different, unfamiliar," they explain. "The upholstered shapes echo the muscular structure of the human body, while the metal framework resembles the skeletal form of something alive."

Following its debut at Rotterdam Design Biennale, Daydreamer will be exhibited at Collectible Brussels from March 13-16, 2025, as part of a curated group show at Spazio Viruly gallery.