Oh, patents! Blu Dot furniture (2)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

The Blu Dot Neat Chair, shown below in charcoal wool-blend felt, is completely covered from top to bottom in felt. Under the felt, the Neat Chair has a wood frame, injected foam, and metal legs. The “footie pajama” design is built to offer soft, comfortable seating. 

The Blu Dot Neat Chair is also a patented design. The US design patent, USD845021S, titled Dining Chair, was awarded to B. Bradshaw Bray, former Senior Designer at Blu Dot, on April 9th, 2019. The patent was assigned to Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing, Inc., Minneapolis, MN. 

The patent Figure 1, depicting a front-right perspective view of the chair, is also included below. The dotted lines at the bottom of the four chair legs indicate that the small chair feet form no part of the claimed design.  

Reference

Blu Dot 

https://www.bludot.com/

Oh, patents! Blu Dot furniture (1)

 Copyright © Françoise Herrmann

Founded in Minneapolis, in 1997, by college friends, architects and sculptor, John Christakos, Maurice Blanks, and Charlie Lazo, Blu Dot seeks to make good design accessible to as many people as possible. Everything that is sold at Blu Dot stores is designed in-house. 

In 2018, the company was awarded the prestigious Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum, National Design Award, in the category of Product Design. The company was also granted several US design patents. 

For example, the US Design patent, USD905978S, titled Seating unit, was awarded on Dec. 29th, 2020, to Blu Dot Designer, Scott Smrstick. The patent was then assigned to Blu Dot Design & Manufacturing, Inc., in Minneapolis, MN. 

The patent Figure 1, showing a front upper perspective view of the design, is included below. The two symbolic broken lines, running the length of the design, indicate that all portions of the design are covered, since nothing appears between the broken lines, which conventionally mark boundaries between what is claimed and unclaimed in a patent.

An image of a marketed embodiment of the design, in velvet, is also included below, facing the patent Figure 1. The invented design is designated the Bloke Lounge Chair in stores. 

References
Blu Dot 
https://www.bludot.com/
2018 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award Winners
https://www.cooperhewitt.org/national-design-awards/2018-national-design-awards-winners/