A chair printed in one move from recycled plastic

Dezeen reported on 17 July 2026 that ZHA and the Spanish manufacturer Nagami have produced Echo, a chair made by large-scale additive manufacturing. The material is PETG derived from recycled industrial waste, with single-use medical plastics in the mix. The form, an arching backrest that reaches the floor above a scooped seat, is printed as one continuous piece, and the ribbed surface is simply the record of the layers. Four colourways were shown, including a caramel version containing a bio-based cork composite.

The chair appeared at London Creates at the Truman Brewery between 17 and 26 July 2026. The partnership is not new: Nagami's first 3D-printed chair collection in 2018 already included two ZHA designs. What large-scale printing really offers furniture is not complex geometry but the removal of the mould, which loosens the usual link between production volume and unit cost. Whether a single-material, single-piece chair actually gets recycled at the end depends on a collection system that does not yet exist.