Besides the architecturally impressive pavilions, you can always find small great design details at EXPOs.
These include world-renowned EXPO Chair designs that have become design icons.
Barcelona Chair from the German Pavilion at EXPo 1929 Barcelona
A Chair design icon and perhaps the most famous ever shown at a World's Fair, is the "Barcelona Chair".
It celebrated its world premiere in the no less famous German Pavilion at the EXPO 1929 in Barcelona.
It was designed by one of the most famous architects of the time, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.
What is less known is that a woman was also involved in the design of the Barcelona Chair.
Lilly Reich worked with Mies van der Rohe for years. And so they also designed the "Barcelona Chair" together.
Heatherwick Spun Chairs of EXPO 2015 Milano
An extraordinary chair design in recent EXPO history could be viewed and tried out at EXPO 2015 in Milan.
The from Thomas Heatherwick developed spun chairs stood in front of the Tree of Life, the main attraction of EXPO 2015.
Here is a videoto understand the movements. And you can also see here how much fun it is to sit in the chair and rotate.
"Forma" Chair by Rand Abdul Jabbar
There I also noticed a special chair by a designer from the UAE.
The "Forma" Chair by Rand Abdul Jabbar impressed me no less than my conversation with the young Tashkeel graduate.
She was allowed to present her wonderful chair at EXPO 2015 at the UAE's Nation's Day. The chair is made of the shape and materials of a traditional dhow ship.
Unfortunately, I did not find the chair again at EXPO 2020.
But today you can sit on it at the Indigo Hotel in Dubai.
Heatherwick's Spun Chairs can also be found in Dubai's Design District.
Tila chairs from Shepherd Studio
However, other interesting chair designs can also be found at EXPO 2020.
Among my favorites here in Dubai were the Tila Chairs (from Shepherd Studio) in the Bahrain Pavilion.
Meanwhile, they became the Wallpaper* Design Award 2022 winner.
Sweden presents sustainable chairs with more Nordic Design Centers
And Sweden, in collaboration with the Danish Design Center, the Center for Design and Architecture Norway, the Icelandic Design Center, Ornamo in Finland and Swedish Form, has also launched a competition to have Nordic designers create new, sustainable chair designs.
The chic and sustainable results can be discovered on the Instagram page of the Swedish Pavilion in the posts of January 24 and 26.
Link to Sweden Pavilion