Designing for the whole being
“It signals comfort,” he says. “It signals that you can have a relationship with it.” The chair’s shape is intentionally enveloping. “When you sit in it, you sink slightly into the chair,” Robinson explains. “It’s almost like a hug.”
How patient room furniture design supports mobility, dignity, and recovery
May 26, 2026
In the patient room, nothing is neutral. Every object has a specific use that shapes the experience for those inside. For Von Robinson, founder of Play Orbit Studio, that understanding defines his approach to furniture design.
“Anything you add to a system makes a positive or negative impact. So when you think about the patient room, you have to account for a person’s emotional, physical, cognitive, and spiritual needs.”
Designing for better outcomes, in his view, means recognizing that patients are more than bodies receiving treatment. They are whole people managing a range of emotions—from vulnerability and anxiety to dependency and uncertainty—often all at once.
“If you look at the wellness model of health, it has multiple dimensions,” he explains. “We’re more than just physical.” Yet healthcare environments sometimes treat patients as if that were the only concern. “When you ask how we design for someone who does not want to be in that space,” Robinson says, “the answer is simple: treat them at least as well, or better than, we treat them outside of it.”
Of course, the patient room has very real constraints. It needs to work efficiently for clinicians, patients, and family members, accommodate medical equipment, and support healing. “There’s no room for anything superfluous,” Robinson explains. “It is specifically set up to treat you and move you on. Everything that goes into the space should multitask and function at a high level.”
Robinson uses the home as an analogy. “Think about your kitchen or your bathroom compared to your living room,” he says. “The patient room is one of those highly functional spaces.” The takeaway is clear: furniture needs to earn its place in a room that demands nothing less.
Furniture as a therapeutic tool
More than décor, Robinson sees furniture as a therapeutic tool. “When you understand the shared goals of every stakeholder in the space, which is better health outcomes and shorter lengths of stay, then you design the furniture based on its role in that healthcare journey.”
Consider the patient recliner. What may seem like a secondary element is in fact central to recovery. “The recliner’s role in the space is to get you out of the bed. It is the first step of mobility so that you can then be mobile to leave the room and get back to your life.”
While mobility is important, Robinson places equal emphasis on dignity. “You have been independent much of your life,” he says. “Now you are put in a situation where you are dependent. And that’s one of the hardest things for a patient to deal with.” Thoughtful design can offer a sense of empowerment. “If I am able to get my heels underneath my knees so I can stand up, I am not as dependent on someone to get me up,” Robinson says. “If I have passive lateral support, I am not as dependent on someone to keep me upright.”
That kind of independence, he argues, restores a small but meaningful sense of control. “Control is the ability for someone to have options,” he explains. “I can be in the bed. I can be over here. I can sit up.”
Welcoming the care partner
Patients aren’t the only ones the room must support. Family members and care partners have a vital role in the recovery process. Robinson believes the environment should acknowledge them from the moment they enter. “They are walking into an alien environment with harsh surfaces, shiny metals, and beeping machines. They should see something that signals that they are welcome.”
That welcome goes beyond aesthetics. “We need to treat care partners as egalitarian participants in the healing of this person,” Robinson says. “We all have a role to play.” Creating a dignified space where family members can sit, stay, and contribute is essential.
Comfort that signals healing
Comfort in a patient room is more than physical. It’s the reason Robinson uses soft, flowing forms for his Ellie Collection. Inspired by nature, its contours stand in contrast to the rigid geometry of most patient rooms. “It signals comfort,” he says. “It signals that you can have a relationship with it.” The chair’s shape is intentionally enveloping. “When you sit in it, you sink slightly into the chair,” Robinson explains. “It’s almost like a hug.”
The feeling of comfort extends to the chair’s arms. Formed using Protea™, the arms were shaped with a level of precision that’s difficult to achieve through wood construction. “Protea allows forms to be achieved because it’s molded,” Robinson explains. Rather than assembling flat components and joinery, the material can be formed as a continuous surface that is easier to clean and maintain.
And the benefits go beyond hygiene. Protea’s moldability supports subtle ergonomic details. The arms incorporate gentle undercuts and rounded profiles that are inviting to the touch. Patients often find themselves running their hands along the arm without thinking. Robinson describes these small movements as “micro-fidgets,” subtle tactile habits that help release nervous energy. In moments of anxiety, tracing a smooth surface can regulate stress and restore a sense of calm.
Posture and movement are equally important. Rather than forcing patients into a rigid upright position, the Ellie recliner features a more relaxed sit angle. “It would have been very easy to design the chair at 90 degrees,” Robinson says. “But we gave it an open sit angle so that weight distributes better and circulation improves.” This subtle shift allows patients to remain comfortable longer while supporting blood flow and overall physical wellbeing.
Drawing from experience
To arrive at these patient insights, Play Orbit Studio uses a method known as body storming. As Robinson puts it, “the only way to experience something is to actually experience it.” Rather than designing purely on paper, his team physically recreates the patient room experience.
Designers enter the mock patient room carrying backpacks, laptops, and personal belongings, mirroring the routines of patients and family members. They sit, stand, lie down, and move through the space repeatedly, observing what feels awkward or unresolved.
“Body storming is just living the experience others are going to have before a product is designed,” he explains. The exercise often reveals small but important needs: where someone places their phone, how they protect personal belongings, or what makes a space feel comfortable enough to rest.
For Robinson, insightful design begins with experience. In a space where every detail matters, he sees through the eyes of patients to turn a negative into a positive.
About Von Robinson:
Von Robinson is an award-winning American industrial designer and founder of Play Orbit Studio, acclaimed for his insight-driven, and poetic healthcare and high-end products for esteemed global brands, including Moroso, Kwalu, and Estée Lauder. A multi-time recipient of the Best of NeoCon Gold and Nightingale awards, Robinson is a sought-after speaker on healthcare design and design-thinking, lecturing at prominent institutions and events worldwide, such as Mayo Transform, ICFF and the Medical World Americas (MWA).