Terra Chair

from Studio Nucleo

Studio Nucleo Relaunches the Terra Chair After Acquisition by Vitra Design Museum. Following its recent acquisition by the Vitra Design Museum, Studio Nucleo has reintroduced one of its most iconic and forward-thinking projects: the Terra Chair.

Originally conceived in 2000, Terra is not a conventional seat—it is a manifesto. An object that doesn’t simply sit in nature, but becomes nature. Sold as a biodegradable mould to be filled with soil and planted with grass, *Terra* invites users to grow their own chair with earth, water, seeds, and time.

Between 2000 and 2004, more than 4,000 Terra kits were distributed globally. After two decades, the chair returns—not as a nostalgic revival, but as a prescient response to current dialogues around sustainability, slowness, and ecological design. The Vitra Design Museum’s inclusion of Terra in its permanent collection affirms its place in design history as a pioneering piece of participatory and environmental design.

“In a world obsessed with speed and disposability, Terra offers a radically different gesture,” says Studio Nucleo’s founder, Piergiorgio Robino. “You don’t buy a finished object—you grow it. You wait, you care for it. That’s the design.”

The kit’s structure—made of biodegradable cardboard—is meant to disappear over time, guiding the soil into shape as grass takes over. After about two months, depending on climate and care, the result is a living, usable sculpture.
From public parks to private gardens, each Terra chair grows uniquely—shaped by its local environment and the attention of its caretaker.

Studio Nucleo’s work has long focused on the intersection of artifact, memory, and transformation. With Terra, this philosophy takes root—literally—encouraging a reconnection with nature and time as essential elements of the design process.

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