I want to create a chair that is inviting and multi-functional. I want this to look like one chair, but also be able to be taken apart into separate functional pieces.

Constraints:

Plywood

Upholstery/cushions

Modular – 3 separate pieces

Chair Inspiration

What makes you want to sit in a chair? (quote segments)

Support, cushy, definitely not wooden, nice to have it spin/wobble, lean a little bit, I look at the angle of the back, something that matches the shape of your back, cradling body, leather is less appealing, Patagonia soft, but not too furry, has to support me, bean bags don’t have enough support. Fun at first, but not for a long time. I don’t want to have to work hard to stay in it. I might slip off a wooden chair

Concept Sketches

 

Progress Update

Research 

I’ve been spending a lot of my time googling chair. I've searched keywords like comfortable, modular, stackable, and “most” whatevers. I’ve tried to see which chairs I've liked and disliked and why, but that only got me so far. I talked with John Edmark yesterday, and he gave me some insight to guide the direction of my chair.  John showed me some chair projects from the chair class last year and also gave me many chair references. I went to the art library yesterday and spent an hour or two browsing some of the suggested readings which included how-to’s of wood bending, chair inspirations, chair history, and chair designs. I will be going back sometime soon to check out some of the other reading materials. I find that looking at books with a lot of pictures and design relevance is very inspiring and useful for me.

Material

I've decided to make veneer plywood and upholstery techniques for my technique of choice. I was struggling with the form of my chair, and I think that choosing a chair making technique will help guide my form. I didn't want to limit my material of choice, but since I’ve never made a chair before, choosing a method will inform my design process. Working with plywood will be difficult in the sense that I've never used it, and I will have to learn how to fixture and clamp, but at least I know the general process, and I know that I will have to set aside a good chunk of time to practice. I’ve been informed that veneer plywood is pretty price which I am aware of, but I will probably be fine with spending the money on my final product. One good thing is that I can prototype my shapes with construction paper, which is quick and not costly. In addition, I may not have to use screws or extra connection pieces to hold my chair together if I design my chair well.

Concept

My ideal vision is two have 3 different pieces that come together to form one chair, and come apart and still be used as a chair. One will be a large cushion chair, and the other two will be support pieces that fit together in some way. They could both support, or one could support and the other could attach in some way. I think that the connection points of these pieces are very important for usability and structural support. The easiest modes of connection that I can think of are stacking and sliding together. Because I want to use plywood, I can take advantage of the form of plywood and pieces sliding perfectly together. I imagine that my two plywood support pieces will complement each other and fit together in some way, while the cushion chair will be able to fit on top somehow.

Projects from the Chair Class

Reference Books

Prototyping I spent some time prototyping mini chair ideas which helped turn my sketches into a physical form, and told me that tons of things I need to work on for my design.

1)      Proportions: I did a rapid prototype, but my proportions were all off. I will have to do a lot more sketching and modeling to get the proportions of my chair right. In addition, I need to keep in mind the full scale proportion of my chair. How high is it? How wide is it? How big does the cushion need to be?

2)      Connections: I did simple slit connections for my prototypes, but I know that for the full scale model, I have a lot of questions to answer: How do the pieces fit together? Do I need screws? Can pieces slide together? How will the pieces be removable? How do the legs hold the chair up? How is the back rest supported? How does the cushion fit with the wood?

3)      Material: I like the idea of using veneer wood. I’m still not sure what would be an appropriate material for the cushion.

Next Steps:

Play with construction paper to see what forms I can create for the plywood parts. These will be small models. (by wed)

Make a full scale (cardboard?) model to test proportions. This will be for form and not function. (by thus b/c I have a midterm on Wed)