In short: SKINNYZ is a small design studio in Tel Aviv that spent three years reinventing the folding chair — and ended up with one that folds to three centimetres and holds 150 kg.
Our Story
SKINNYZ was born from a simple frustration: why are folding chairs so ugly, so bulky and so uncomfortable?
Everyone has used them. The spare chair that lives behind a door, the one dragged out when guests arrive, the one that wobbles and pinches and looks like it belongs in a storage room. Folding chairs are the most practical furniture in the world and the least loved — and we could not understand why nobody had fixed that.
So we did. Founded in Tel Aviv by a team of designers and engineers, we set out to reinvent the folding chair from the ground up rather than restyle the one that already existed. After three years of prototyping, testing and refining, we launched the world's thinnest folding chair: 3 centimetres flat.
The Problem We Set Out to Solve
Small homes and modern life pull in opposite directions. Apartments are getting smaller while hosting, working from home and gathering with friends are all happening in the same few square metres. A stack of ordinary folding chairs eats a closet, a corner or a whole cupboard — so most people own too few chairs, or own ugly ones they hide.
We wanted a chair you do not have to hide. One that hangs on a wall, slides behind a sofa or stacks in the gap beside a fridge. One that looks like a piece of design when it is out and disappears when it is not. Practical objects can be beautiful — that belief shaped every decision we made.
What Makes a SKINNYZ Chair Different
Three centimetres, folded
Our folding mechanism collapses the entire chair into a package about as thin as a laptop. You can store eight chairs in the space a single dining chair normally takes, hang them on a wall hook, or carry two in one hand.
Built to hold 150 kg
Thin does not mean fragile. The reinforced steel frame is rated to 150 kg, load-tested well beyond that, and carries a 10-year warranty against frame, welding and material failure. This is furniture, not a camping accessory.
Comfort for a long dinner
Most folding chairs are designed to be tolerated for an hour. Ours has a wide, flexible seat and a supportive backrest, shaped so an evening of sitting is genuinely comfortable — not something you endure until the coffee arrives.
Design that earns awards
The chair received the Red Dot Design Award for 2026. We did not design it for juries; we designed it to look right in a real living room, and the recognition followed.
Where SKINNYZ Chairs Live
Our customers use the same chair in very different ways:
- Small apartments where every centimetre of floor space is negotiated.
- Hosting — a dinner for four that becomes a dinner for eight, then folds back into the wall.
- Home offices that need a meeting chair on Tuesday and clear floor on Wednesday.
- Coworking spaces and studios that reconfigure rooms between projects.
- Events and pop-ups where a dozen chairs have to arrive in one car and leave the same evening.
- Balconies and gardens that need seating without permanent furniture.
Materials and Longevity
We choose materials for how long they last, not for how cheap they are to buy. That means reinforcing rather than thinning, testing hinges far past their rated cycles, and inspecting welds individually instead of sampling a batch.
It is also the reason for the length of our warranty. Products that fail get replaced, and replacements are the least sustainable part of any furniture business. Making a chair that a customer keeps for fifteen years is the most effective environmental decision we can make — and it is the one we build around.
Our Promises to You
A 10-year warranty
Every chair is covered for ten years against frame, welding and material defects. It is our confidence in the engineering, written down instead of implied.
30 days to change your mind
If the chairs do not suit your space, return them within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. Living with furniture for a month tells you more than any product photo.
Free shipping in Israel
Delivery anywhere in Israel is free, with express options when you need chairs in a hurry.
The People Behind the Product
We are a small team of designers and engineers based in Tel Aviv, and most of us came to this project from furniture, industrial design or manufacturing. The same people who draw the chair answer questions about it — which is why support email is read by someone who can actually explain how the hinge works.
We are close enough to our customers that a complaint reaches the people who can fix the product, not just the people who apologise for it.
Join Thousands of Happy Customers
From Tel Aviv to Berlin, from New York to Tokyo, SKINNYZ chairs are changing how people host, work and live in the space they have.
They hang on walls in studio apartments. They travel to pop-up markets in the back of a car. They come out for Friday dinners and disappear again before breakfast. That is the whole idea: seating that is there when you need it and invisible when you do not.
How We Design
Every SKINNYZ chair goes through the same deliberately slow process:
- Draw it thinner. The first question is never what we can add, but what we can remove. A millimetre off every component is a chair that fits into more homes.
- Break it on purpose. Prototypes are loaded, dropped, folded and unfolded thousands of times until something gives — and then that part is redesigned rather than propped up with extra weight.
- Sit on it for a week. Each prototype lives in our studio for a week of real lunches, meetings and late evenings before it earns a place in the range.
- Live with the colour. Finishes stay in the studio for months, in real daylight, before we commit to them. A chair has to look right at eight in the morning and at midnight.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a folding chair as comfortable as a fixed one?
For a dinner, a meeting or an evening, yes. The seat is wide, slightly flexible and shaped to support the body, and the backrest is angled for sitting rather than reclining. What it is not designed for is all-day lounging.
How many chairs can I store in a small apartment?
Because each chair folds to around three centimetres, eight of them take roughly the space of a single dining chair. Most customers keep them in a cupboard, behind a door or on wall hooks.
Do they work outdoors?
They are at home on a balcony, a covered terrace or in a garden. We recommend storing them indoors or under cover when they are not in use, so the frame and the finish stay in condition.
Talk to Us
Questions about sizing, delivery, a bulk order for an office or an event, or anything else — write to info@skinnyz.net. A person from our team will reply within one business day.