This wheelchair is the star of a Danish talent show and could transform mobility aids

If any country in the world has a strong design tradition and history, it is Denmark. Many of the design classics we know today originated in Denmark. Danes love design so much that they even have a talent show for designers on national TV called "Danmarks Næste Klassiker" (Denmark's Next Classic). iF winner Sophus Bang took part in it, and we talked to him about his experience.

iF: Sophus, how did you land in the tv show and got to design a wheelchair?

Sophus Bang: I was invited to participate in this Danish national television programme, in which five professional designers are challenged to design, develop and produce six products, with each product taking three weeks to complete. This year's category was: A bench for Copenhagen Central Station, a table for the Glyptotek museum, a children's chair, a lamp for the Tivoli amusement park, a reinterpretation of the classic Nordic storage bench, and finally, a piece of furniture of our own choosing. The only constraints in the brief were that the designs had to make a difference to someone's life and had to be produced from recycled furniture or leftovers from furniture production. I chose to make the chair out of the leftovers remaining from the previous five designs produced on the programme.

iF: Have all participants been given a task or were you totally free in designing?

Sophus: The brief for this task, which resulted in the wheelchair, was given at the beginning of the programme, which theoretically gave me about 18 weeks to work on it. In reality, however, there was no time to work on it alongside the other assignments. I did think about it, of course, but the final design, development and production of the “prototype” took place in just 10 days! I received help from my friend and business partner, Jacob Østergaard Jensen, with whom I travelled to Milan to meet the IF team. So, Jacob and I worked as a team 24/7 for ten days. We modelled on site, hands-on, with the limitations of the materials we had to hand.

iF: Did you have any collaborators?

Sophus: I was the only one with zero experience in furnitures, the only one that produced everything by my own hands (no I am not a carpenter or such), and I was invited to participate two weeks before program-start thus didn’t have all summer to prepare and do collaborations.

iF: And what are the main areas your design improved?

Sophus: These include reduced visual and structural clutter, materials similar to those used for furniture to create a sense of warmth and familiarity, an enhanced driving wheel for a better grip, improved intuitive brake functionality and a simple anti-tilt solution for safety. One of the key innovations is the integrated brake system. Traditional wheelchair brakes can be difficult for users to operate and require caregivers to lean into their personal space, which is awkward and undignified. The braking mechanism has been concealed behind the wheels and the operation has been integrated into the armrests.

There are also ergonomic wooden drive wheels, redesigned with solid oak for a warmer, more tactile surface and larger dimensions for improved grip and propulsion. To streamline the design, I covered the wheels with upholstered fabric, integrating them seamlessly into the chair’s overall aesthetic.

iF: Sophus, what are the next steps?

Sophus: I have founded a new company, Bang & Jensen, together with Jacob Jensen. We are working tirelessly to find partners who are bold enough to engage with the project. In our view, the potential market is huge. The impact it could have on people's self-esteem and sense of dignity would be profound. We will succeed eventually, but finding the right partners has proven more difficult than anticipated. This means that we are still open for business. This particular chair is just the start of what could become a movement offering alternatives to conventional wheelchairs. I don't believe in a "one-size-fits-all" approach. Consider how many different chairs are available to people who can walk — the moment you can't walk, there's basically just one option.