Final Cafe Chair

Technical Drawing

Overall dimensions of wood parts.


This is the dxf file which was sent to the water jet cutters. I arranged it in a way that I would get 2 different grained plywood from the same cutting.

Cafe Chair Development _ Construction Process

There are 3 parts in the construction of my cafe chair. First is the metal leg frame which is made out of 4 bent wires criss-crossed and welded. The second is the metal frame for the back rest which is made out of 2 separate parts welded in the middle, and after that welded to the base/legs. The third part is the wooden parts ( seat & back rest ) which are actually 2 plies stuck together.

I was trying to minimize the amount of wire used for the base area, theresore some of the wires seen in the final mock up is either taken out or replaced with less.


The metal parts were sent to be powder coated to make sure that it can last longer. I sent my part to Comet Powder Coatings and got it powder coated to a textured black finish. Before that was done, the metal parts had to grinded and cleaned of gris and unwanted material.

The wood finishing was done by sanding fillets around the parts to eliminate any sharp edges. The sanding machine was then used to smoothen all the flat surfaces. A clear enamel coat was applied to the plywood and sanded lightly several times to achieve a smooth clear finish.

Cafe Chair Development _ Model Trial 1

This is my first 1:1 scale model from my mock up trials. I used printed drawings, and glued it to wood and cardboard to help allign the criss cross leg frame. This was a little challenging due to different angles and heights of the seat. I decided to make another one because the leg's frame base for this turned out to be very narrow, which caused some instability. I still did learn a lot from making this model, learning that alligning wires at angles accurately is vital for achieving a better fit for the wood part.

Cafe Chair Development _ Refined Mock Up

This mock up was strong enough, therefore it was brought to be tested in 1:1 scale. The locking system used for the back rest can be seen more in detail from the sketches below.

Cafe Chair Developement _ 1/2 scale mock ups

Continuing with the cafe chair concepts done, I have chosen my final concept to develope further. I have chosen the concept which is based on tram tracks, to tie in with my chosen cafe environment which is Mart 130.

Half scale mock ups were done and refined. The first half scale model done was similar to the drawings in the concept stage, but I discovered that it is still not very stable when pressure was applied to it. I then added more wires to the same model, adding more triangulation to the leg area to make it stronger. Here are some picture of the mock up.

Cafe Chair Concepts

This week we started delving into our concept designs for our cafe chairs. My 3 concepts are mostly based from my chosen cafe environment which is Mart 130 which is overlooking Albert Park.


This is some interior pictures of the cafe which I am basing my designs on.

My 3 concept sketches of my designs.


And these are the photographed look of the 1:5 scaledmock ups I did for it!

Esquisse Four - Material Synergy

Hey y'all!

This week we did scaled mock ups of cafe chairs using the same materials, without any glue or fixings. I did 2 different cafe chairs scaled to 1:5. Here they are!

The pros of this cafe chair is that it has a comfortable knee sitting, because of the curve at the edge of the seat which provides flow. The cons of this design is that it might not be easily stackable and might be a bit on the chunky looking side.

This second cafe chair also has its pros and cons. The double layer of the seat, joined with wire, creates a softer impact on the user when seating. It also has a curved backrest which will allow a bit more comfort to users. The cons of this design is that it might be heavy looking for some people's liking.