A stool shaped by pressure.
It looks like an inflatable stool. It is steel. Zieta welds thin metal sheets together and inflates them into a permanent, load-bearing form.
In practice. Manufactured furniture formed by pressure-expanding welded metal sheets. The resulting shape remains rigid without continuous inflation.
What to keep in view
The maker documents production and material choices. These pages do not establish a whole-life environmental advantage, a universal weight saving or suitability for arbitrary structural loads. Permanent metal forming should not be confused with pneumatic support during use.
Inflate welded metal into a structure
PLOPP uses Zieta’s FiDU process: sheets of metal are welded around a defined outline, then pressure deforms them into a three-dimensional object. The resulting metal form stays in shape. This is not an air cushion that needs to remain inflated during use.
The resemblance to a balloon reveals the manufacturing idea rather than merely decorating the surface. Pressure helps turn flat sheet into volume, giving a rigid material a softness it does not normally suggest.
Use deformation to create strength
Create structural volume by expanding a welded sheet rather than assembling a conventional frame.
Read next.
A rigid surface learns to fold.
Both make an apparently rigid material take an unexpected form. Folding joints and pressure-driven shaping use different physical principles.
Geometry you can eat.
Both begin by designing how a material will take shape. Inflating welded steel and casting a cake in a mould use different processes to produce a precise form.