KI Europe launches Sebel & Sutton at Material Source Studio Manchester - the former made from 100% British post-consumer waste.

KI Europe - dedicated to supporting the world's leading organisations in creating happy, healthy, high performing working and learning environments - is now a Partner at Material Source Studio.

With a focus on innovation, sustainability, and design excellence, KI’s products are engineered to support and enhance user performance and wellbeing across working, leisure and learning environments.

Founded in 1941, KI has grown to become one of the world's largest, most respected furniture manufacturing groups. KI’s EMEA headquarters and showroom in Central London is supported by an established network of manufacturing facilities and distribution partners across the UK, Europe and the Middle East - including Material Source Studio Manchester.

As part of the furniture you can explore here are Sebel and Sutton. Discover more below, and by visiting 1 Federation Street, Manchester, any time Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. You can also join KI for its official launch event - tickets here.

Meet the Sebel Chair, made from 100% British post-consumer waste

Already pioneers in sustainable plastics, KI’s newest launch Sebel, is manufactured entirely from post-consumer waste as part of their ongoing commitment to sustainability. No industrial cut-offs, colourants or additives, Sebel is made up of household waste, with each chair preventing 4.5kg of waste plastic from going to landfill.

With the chair being made from 100% post-consumer waste, there is no colourant added. Unlike most chairs that incorporate a colour master-batch (typically 3% of a chair’s weight and not recycled material), Sebel avoids this addition ensuring that the entire chair is made from 100% post-consumer waste. As a result of this, Sebel comes in a colour KI call Grey-dient, meaning each chair varies slightly in shade, with subtle differences in grey tones reflecting the nature of the recycled material.

As well as its sustainability accolades, Sebel is ergonomically designed to support natural posture and meet the demands of everyday use in learning environments, with durable polypropylene legs built to withstand impact, wear and support up to 220kg. The waterfall seat edge and curved back rest increase flexibility which in turn aid better lumbar support, with a built-in window to provide ventilation.

Maintenance is kept simple for Sebel users, it is lightweight, antistatic, stain resistant and made using a one-piece injection moulding with no finger traps, loose parts or gaps. Storage within the classroom is easy, using the integrated handle for easy lifting, Sebel only weighs 4.5kg and can be stacked up to 12 high with an optional trolly for manoeuvrability.

Sebel’s extensive warranty of 25-years enforces the products strength and durability which is also supported by testing to BS1729, making Sebel set to be the next solution for sustainable education seating.

Meet Sutton, a homage to Mid-Century design

KI’s newest launch to their one piece chair collection, pays homage to the timeless Mid-Century school chair. Reimagined for 2026, this design classic is manufactured in the UK using modern injection-moulding to create a single, durable piece that offers strength and stability. The result is a future-proof chair that beautifully blends the aesthetics of a classic mixed-material classroom chair with a slick, minimalist design.

Sutton is available in Denim, Iron Grey, Latte and Terracotta, a colour palette identified by the trend forecasting team at Scarlet Opus as key for 2025/26. KI has also announced an additional new colour to the collection; Lagoon, which was chosen during Clerkenwell Design Week 2025. Through a voting system, architects and designers who visited the new KI showroom were asked to select their favourite from the following trend-led colours: Maroon, Sports Pink, Lagoon or Sea Green.

Lagoon, a teal green-tone, won by 40%, and has now been added permanently to the collection. Built to last, Sutton contains a blend of high-impact resistant glass filled polypropylene with gas-injection techniques for outstanding strength and longevity, hence its 20-year guarantee for structural defects. In line with KI’s one-piece chair ranges, Sutton also incorporates 30% post-industrial recycled polypropylene and features a UV filter making it suitable for occasional outdoor use.

Sutton is a highly versatile seating solution, perfect for a wide range of settings from offices, hospitality, classrooms, higher and further education. Its stain-resistant, anti-static, and easy-to-clean finish makes it ideal for high traffic areas like cafes, office canteens, break-out spaces, and sixth-form colleges. There are also features of advanced ergonomics including a waterfall seat edge, a curved backrest, and superior flexibility to maximise user comfort. The Sutton chair is available in two sizes to accommodate different user needs; size 5 (seat height of 430mm) and size 6 (seat height of 460mm). Both of these stack to 6 high on the floor.

KI Europe will mark the launch of its partnership at Material Source Studio Manchester with an event on 12 February - find out more info & book your place here.