The Fortune Chair
From Fortune Cookie to Design Fortune
Thu, 28 Jul 2026
A Story of Immigration, Discovery, and Award-Winning Design
In 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, two Brooklyn-based architects found themselves exploring the boundaries between the physical and digital, the real and the surreal. Justin Donnelly and Monling Lee, the duo behind JUMBO Studios, were creating what they called their "Creature Comfort Collection" – a series of designs that captured the strange, suspended reality of quarantine life.
Among these concepts was a chair that would eventually become one of the most celebrated furniture designs of the decade: the Fortune Chair.
Justin Donnelly and Monling Lee of JUMBO Studios
The Origin Story
The inspiration came from a deeply personal place. Monling Lee had immigrated to the United States from Taiwan when she was thirteen years old. One of her earliest American experiences was visiting a Chinese restaurant with her family, where she encountered something entirely new – a fortune cookie.
"I've always been smitten with the cellophane-wrapped crispy wafer, its iconic pinched-circle shape and the surprise message hidden inside,"
— Monling Lee, JUMBO Studios
The fortune cookie, despite not existing in China, had somehow become a symbol of Chinese food globally. This cultural paradox fascinated Lee, who would carry this memory through her successful career as an industrial designer, working on projects as diverse as $200 million waste treatment plants.
From Concept to Reality
The initial Fortune Chair design was conceived in spun aluminum – beautiful in its rendering but, as Donnelly later acknowledged, excruciating to make and quite uncomfortable. The chair existed primarily in the digital realm, its render-like aesthetic perfectly capturing the blurred boundaries between virtual and physical that defined the pandemic era.
Among these concepts was a chair that would eventually become one of the most celebrated furniture designs of the decade: the Fortune Chair.
Monling Lee's original spun aluminum concept
Everything changed in 2022 when John Edelman, CEO of Heller Furniture, discovered the Fortune Chair concept on Instagram. Edelman, who had acquired Heller in 2021 and was actively seeking the "Next Generation of Modern" designers, saw immediate potential. "I could hear trumpets going off in my head," Edelman recalled. "It was meant to be a Heller product."
The Manufacturing Journey
Transforming JUMBO's concept into a production-ready piece required significant adaptation. Edelman proposed manufacturing the chair in plastic – a material JUMBO had never worked with before. "We were never precious about the material," Donnelly explained. "There were some learning curves."
"We were never precious about the material, there were some learning curves."
— Justin Donnelly, JUMBO Studios
The team initially considered injection molding, which could produce the thin shells needed for the original cantilevered design. However, the cost of creating large stainless steel molds proved prohibitive. Drawing on his extensive industry experience, Edelman suggested rotation molding instead.
This pivot proved transformative. Rotation molding allowed for a double-walled construction that solved multiple challenges at once. As Donnelly explained, "[Rotation molding] allows for the chair to have a double shell...The outer shell could be really clean, pure, and geometric, while the inner shell could be organically shaped for comfort."
Sustainability at the Core
The Most Sustainable Modern Indoor/Outdoor Furniture
True to Heller's commitment to responsible manufacturing, JUMBO pushed hard on sustainability. While the production partners initially proposed 8% recycled content, the designers insisted on achieving more than 25% post-consumer recycled plastic. "We pushed them to get above 25 percent," Donnelly noted. "It's really hard to get the recycled content right. We were able to find a recipe that works for us."
The final product represents a breakthrough in sustainable furniture design. Manufactured in the USA, the Fortune Chair features 100% recyclable materials and incorporates Heller's revolutionary partnership with Worry Free Plastics Technology – a game-changing innovation that addresses one of the furniture industry's most pressing environmental challenges.
What is Worry Free Plastics?
A breakthrough organic enzyme embedded into our products during manufacturing that allows our material to convert into nutrient rich soil.
100% Regenerative
Leaves behind nutrient-rich soil rather than harmful microplastics.
Indoor & Outdoor
Function perfectly indoors and outdoors, year-round, in any environment.
Smart Technology
Stays dormant, activating only if the product is disposed of in an end-of-life environment.
Lasting Durability
Our products maintain 100% of their original properties and generational durability
Worry Free Plastics technology embeds organic enzymes directly into the polymer material during manufacturing. These enzymes remain completely dormant during the chair's useful life, allowing it to maintain 100% of its original strength and durability whether used indoors or outdoors. However, when the chair eventually reaches an anaerobic end-of-life environment (such as a landfill), the enzymes activate, enabling microorganisms to completely consume the polymer within fewer than five years.
The result is truly regenerative: instead of breaking down into harmful microplastics that persist for centuries, the Fortune Chair transforms into nutrient-rich soil but only when it is landfilled. This isn't just recycling – it's a complete reimagining of a product's end-of-life impact. The chair literally goes from Earth back to Earth, feeding the planet rather than poisoning it.
This technology allows Heller to be the World's Most Sustainable Furniture – products that are built to last for generations but designed to leave no trace when their time finally comes. The Fortune Chair thus embodies a new paradigm in furniture design: exceptional durability paired with environmental responsibility, proving that sustainability and quality are not competing values but complementary ones.
Learn more about Heller's incorporation of Worry Free Plastics here or visit Worry Free Plastics' website here
Design Philosophy
The Fortune Chair embodies JUMBO's philosophy that "modern design is serious fun." Its bilaterally symmetrical form appears simple and reductive, yet the puffed-up volume creates generous comfort. The chair was tested extensively with friends and family to ensure it could accommodate various body types and sitting positions. The goal, as Donnelly stated, was to create something comfortable enough for sustained use: "Our intention was to create something that you could read a book in."
"Our intention was to create something that you could read a book in."
— Justin Donnelly, JUMBO Studios
Available in six inspired colors – Oatmeal, Cookie, Olive, Tomato, Dark Cherry, and Licorice – the chair continues JUMBO's tradition of incorporating food associations into their designs. These warm, inviting hues reinforce the connection to comfort and nourishment that inspired the original concept.
Launch and Recognition
The Fortune Chair officially launched in May 2024 during NYCxDesign, with a dedicated exhibition titled "FORTUNE" at 52 Lispenard Street in Manhattan. The chair was made available exclusively through Heller and Design Within Reach, leveraging Edelman's former role as DWR's CEO to ensure broad visibility.
The design community's response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Major design publications including Dezeen, Metropolis, Dwell, Wallpaper*, and Interior Design Magazine featured the chair prominently, celebrating both its whimsical inspiration and sophisticated execution.
An Avalanche of Awards
The Fortune Chair's success can be measured not just in sales and press coverage, but in the extraordinary recognition it has received from the design industry:
2024
Interior Design HiP Award – Winner, Outdoor Seating
MetropolisLikes NeoCon – Winner, Furniture Category
NYCxDesign Award – Winner, Outdoor Seating Environmental Impact
Interior Design Best of Year – Winner, Outdoor Seating
Architectural Record Products of the Year – Winner, Outdoor Products
ICFF + Female Design Council – Winner, Best in Furniture Design
2025
Hospitality Design Magazine HD Product Design Awards – Finalist, Outdoor Furnishings
AZ Awards (AZURE Magazine) – Winner, People's Choice
AZ Awards (AZURE Magazine) – Winner, Award of Merit
This remarkable sweep of awards – nine major recognitions in less than two years – validates not only the chair's design excellence but also its broad appeal across residential, contract, and hospitality markets.
A Modern Classic
The Fortune Chair represents more than just a successful product launch. It embodies Heller's vision for the future: honoring the company's legacy of innovative plastic furniture while embracing new voices and perspectives. For JUMBO Studios, it marks their emergence as significant players in furniture design, proving that deeply personal stories can translate into universally appealing objects.
As Design Within Reach summarizes in their marketing: "May your future be incredibly comfortable." The Fortune Chair delivers on this promise, transforming a childhood memory of discovery into a piece of furniture that brings comfort, joy, and a touch of whimsy to spaces around the world.
The chair stands as a testament to the power of storytelling in design, the importance of cultural perspective, and the magic that can happen when emerging talent meets established expertise. From a fortune cookie encountered by a 13-year-old immigrant to a chair winning nearly every major design award – the Fortune Chair's journey is, indeed, a fortunate one.