KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 27 — You might have seen them at nature retreat spots or at festivals, or even at roadside stalls or at the park — they’re simply everywhere now.
We are talking about foldable outdoor chairs that are now being dubbed ‘healing chairs’.
No, not those steel folding chairs at WWE matches and no, we’re not talking about the black folding chairs you see pop up at outdoor functions.
Outdoors hobbyists might know them as camp chairs but for some reason Malaysians are now calling them ‘healing chairs’.
So… what exactly are ‘healing chairs’?
First of all, ‘healing chair’ is just a popular term and the chairs do not actually confer healing properties.
Although the foldable outdoor chair is not a new invention and is commonly used for outdoor activities such as camping and hiking, these chairs are being widely used by Malaysians nowadays simply because of its convenience.
Lightweight and portable, the chairs are easy to set up at open spaces and for Malaysians who love their lepaking (hanging out) sessions, these foldable chairs bring a new level of comfort to the table… literally.
This trend of healing chairs started to gain attraction amongst the locals most notably during the post Covid-19 pandemic years around early 2022 following the lifting of the Movement Control Order (MCO) where the country was put into lockdown mode.
These chairs began getting popular during the post-lockdown years, around early 2022 once the Movement Control Order (MCO) was lifted.
What started off as just people finding ways to hang out with each other more conveniently has then grown into somewhat of a trend.
Camp chairs suddenly started popping up not just at roadside stalls, but local cafes as well.
‘Healing chair’ is just a popular term and it does not provide any sort of actual healing properties. — Picture by Raymond Manuel
Who are these ‘healing chair’ enthusiasts?
30 years old Muhammad Syafiq Fauzan Yusry would usually have at least one foldable chair in the boot of his car in case he wants to go on a quick ‘healing’ getaway.
Among his choices for mini-getaways would be by the beach, waterfalls or even at music festivals.
For Fauzan, having a chair on standby made it easy for him to enjoy recreational activities and he for one, welcomes this trend of ‘healing chairs’.
However he does point out the importance of getting a quality one.
“The good thing about it is that people are bringing their own chairs almost anywhere nowadays.
“For example you’re going to a roadside stall to order food, you can just bring your chair there while waiting.
“However, as there’s a lot of places selling these chairs, there are also a lot of low quality ones which can easily break after being used for a short time,” he said.
Coffee has also become synonymous with the ‘healing chairs’ trend as most local roadside cafe stalls would provide these chairs for their customers and one of them is 29-year-old roadside cafe stall owner, Mohd Adha Mohd Idrus.
“These so-called ‘healing chairs’ are actually just for people to rest while enjoying their drinks.
“You can sit down, lean back and just be with your thoughts and I guess that’s how they came up with this ‘healing’ term in the first place.
“Plus during the MCO, a lot of people were technically ‘trapped’ at their homes, so these chairs allowed them to feel some form of escapism from being cooped up at home,” Adha said.
He added that ‘healing chairs’ have also become a sort of attraction for local roadside stalls nowadays and that was the case for him as he shared that some of his customers would often hang out at his stall because of the chairs.
Some local concertgoers bringing their own ‘healing chairs’ during the 2023’s Nusafest. — Picture by Hari Anggara
Meanwhile, according to local event coordinator, Syawal Zainal, the ‘healing chairs’ trend had also positively impacted local concertgoers especially those attending music festivals with more than one lineup.
He said that he would often see concertgoers bring their own chairs to big music festivals nowadays and they would just sit there and enjoy the performances from the comfort of their chairs especially for non-seated events.
“But it depends, it does not work for all events, for example a gig might not be suitable for you to bring a healing chair with you as the space for gigs is quite small.
“For some sold out concerts, some organisers might not even allow chairs to be brought in as it could take up space, so it really depends on the type of music festivals you’re going to,” he said.
Syawal added that although he doesn’t like to bring his healing chair to festivals due to the hassle, he would still use his chair to hang out in front of his house during the evening and enjoy the night breeze by himself.
