Armrest Wars: Designing an End to Elbow Battles

Have you ever battled with a stranger for an armrest on a plane? James Lee SM ’08 has—that’s what prompted him to design the Paperclip Armrest.

Lee was in the first year of his studies at MIT when the idea for a uniquely designed armrest came to him.

“I was in packed lecture hall at MIT, in 10-250, and the person next to me kept his arms on both armrests. I looked at where his arms were positioned and realized if the armrest were double level, then there could be space for me to place my arms,” he explains.

Armed with a problem and a passion for aircraft seating design—something Lee says he’s always been interested in—Lee came up with a simple armrest design that looks like a paperclip. The armrest is two levels with the top level slightly more forward and shorter than the bottom level. This design allows for two separate arms on one armrest.

Lee kept armrest design as a hobby during his time at the MIT International Center for Air Transportation and as he began working for Hong Kong airline Cathay Pacific. It wasn’t until 2009 when Lee submitted his armrest design to the Crystal Cabin Awards—the only international awards for aircraft interior innovation—that his design started to take off.

“I submitted my idea and it got in the finals,” Lee says, which pushed him to make his first real prototype. The result was a paperclip style armrest like his original design that he snapped to an IKEA folding chair.

Lee took home one of the six Crystal Cabins Awards that night.

“Aircraft seating combines a few things I really like: mechanical engineering and aviation—I’m an airplane nerd—and also design,” Lee says. Lee kept designing innovative solutions for aircraft seating in his free time until 2012 when he founded Paperclip Design. Lee now has several design solutions for airplane seating, including Caterpillar Convertible Seating, which won a Crystal Cabin award in 2014.

So when can we expect to say farewell to armrest battles and see Lee’s innovative designs? Hopefully soon. Lee says his design can be helpful in any high-density seating arrangement.

“Currently my focus is on theater seating companies. It’s a lot harder to get into the aviation market with regulations and costs,” he explains. “But I hope to see them in planes within the next few years.”