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.

Esquisse Three - 'Form vs Function'

This week we are doing scaled mock-ups of anything that can hold a human body. I chose to do sitting furnitures. I started by thinking about the form of chairs and what I could do to make it look unique, but then function is as important to take into account, because the user will be using this piece of furniture for a period of time.

I came up with 3 rough furniture mock-ups to explore this week's topic which is 'Form vs Function'.

Model 1

This piece of furniture, i tried playing with the flexibility of the balsa wood to make a curvier design with the wire supporting the shape. There could be a little bit more support on the seat are, but overall it is stable with weight.

Model 2

This next model is a backless chair with armrests. I like it because it is simple and strong. It might not be the most comfortable chair, but it's definitely good enough to be sat on for a shorter period and it looks good!

Model 3

This piece I was trying to create more comfortability on a wooden stool. That is why the 3 planks of the seat is quite flexible. The seat also has a curvy area to make sitting more comfortable. This piece definitely needs more refinement to make it outlook look less industrial and more inviting, by changing some of the wire features of the chair maybe... It still needs to go under further detailing.

More next week!

Esquisse Two - 'Locking systems'

This week, we tried our hands on different kinds of locking systems, using balsa wood and wire. No glue or fixings were used in this exercise. Here are the 5 I've come up with!

Locking System 01



Locking System 02




Locking System 03



Locking System 04



Locking System 05


This is it for now :)

Esquisse One_ Triangulation

For our furniture design assignment, we were asked to construct a five sided pyramid using only balsa wood and 1 mm wire. It was quite an interesting task since I have not used balsa wood in my model makings before. Therefore a few trials were needed to get a feel of the material.

I began with some sketches to get me started thinking about the form and the way the jointing were to hold the pyramid together, without the use of any other adhesives. Here is some of my sketches.

I decided then, to make my four triangular sides out of balsa wood and join it with the wire. I choose to do it this way because I was thinking it would be easier to make the pyramid size more accurate. Therefore, here are some pictures to show my final esquisse work.

THANK YOU!

B4U Furniture Design History

Marc Newson

“Good designers are geeks, bad designers are not geeks”, is quoted from the man himself during a BBC interview. He believes that to be a good designer is to have the desire to know things. This need of wanting to know every minute details of how things work is important to understand how to create things. His first design that got a lot of attention was the Lockheed Lounge chair, made out of hundreds of aluminium panels hammered onto a homemade fibreglass mould. This piece has a futuristic look to it with all the aluminium pieces, but it also exudes a warm modernist feel to it because we can see that it is a man laboured piece of art. His design’s reflects his love for the space age era, in a lot of his work.





Philippe Starck














The new transparent chairs designed by Phillipe Starck are possible because of the innovation in material. The La Marie chair is the first fully transparent chair, formed in a single mould. The use of an everyday material like polycarbonate, and making it as slim and light looking with complete transparency is amazing. His designs are mostly concentrated for mass production for access to many people. In a society where everything is technologically focused, styling of objects can attract people into buying a certain product. With products like furniture, the evolving of new processes and material is vital because it can make a difference in a success of a product.


Reference:

-Furniture, viewed 6th Mar, http://www.gagosian.com/artists/marc-newson/
-Furniture, viewed 6th Mar, http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/previous/marc_newson.asp
- Furniture, viewed 6th Mar, http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/newson.html
- Furniture, viewed 6th Mar, http://www.designboom.com/portrait/newson.html
-About, viewed 6th Mar, http://designmuseum.org/design/marc-newson
-Furniture innovation, viewed 7th Mar, http://pinkappledesigns.co.uk/philippe-starck-furniture.html
-About, viewed 7th Mar, http://www.designboom.com/eng/interview/starck.html
-About, viewed 7th Mar, http://www.starck.com/

B4U Furniture Design History

Eero Aarnio

During the 1960's, there weren't many furniture's made with plastic material, whilst almost everything today is made out of this common material. Eero Aarnio's 'Globe' chair, Pastil and 'Bubble' chair reflects 'Pop' culture furniture in that decade. From these three chairs, I can see that he played mostly with organic forms and vibrant colours. The Globe chair that I saw in the NGV confirms that the manufacturing of this chair is using injection moulding with glossy finishing to add to the pop culture look. These pieces became icons because of the possibilities it created of making organic shapes easier to mass produce. I think his pieces are timeless, because it still looks modern now.




Pierre Paulin

This man considered design to be a mix of invention and industrial innovation. We can see by his furniture work, he is influenced a lot with sculptured shapes. His idea of furniture design is that it is primitive; therefore he experimented in new processes of manufacturing, to make it fresh and new. He played with materials such as new types of ofam and rubber from Italy, and also used lightweightmetal in his furniture's to create different experiences for users. These new materials creates a different type of feel to the users. This is because the foam and rubber are used to create rounder surfaces and curvier body for a more comfortable sitting.

Reference:

-About, viewed 5th Mar, http://www.eero-aarnio.com/1/Home.htm
-Furniture, viewed 5th Mar, http://www.eeroaarnio.com/
-Furniture work, viewed 6th Mar, http://www.bonluxat.com/d/pierre-paulin.html
-Furniture work, viewed 6th Mar, http://www.designaddict.com/design_index/index.cfm/fuseaction/designer_show_one/DESIGNER_ID/157/
-About, viewed 6th Mar, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/pierre-paulin-innovative-designer-who-helped-to-revolutionise-everyday-furniture-1767749.html