Dumbo Chair – Ellie Nonemacher

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I think architects and designers are so enamored by the design of a fine chair because of its ability to capture the moment of form follows function in the most minimalistic sense.  A chair design has to have control of structure, material integrity, and a spatial relationship to the human body.  Each corner, joint and connection on a chair is tangible and has to flow to realize a fine chair.  Myself I am a sucker for minimalistic chair designs from Eames to Mies, but recently Ellie Nonemacher’s “Dumbo Chair” (perfectly named) caught our eye.  A graduate interior design student out of the University of Oregon shows an acute eye for detail and craft in her bent wood design.  Certainly having Nils-Ole Zib, a well known designer and furniture-maker, as your professor certainly helps, but Ellie’s moments of connection in the chair appear effortless.  Check it out after the jump!

STUDENT: Ellie Nonemacher
SCHOOL: 
University of Oregon
PROFESSORS: Nils-Ole Zib
COURSE: Graduate Student – Interior Architecture
YEAR: WINTER 2012

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Dodecahedronic Chair – Hiroaki Suzuki

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Today we are changing it up and checking out Hiroaki Suzuki’s chair design derived from his research into geometric form in product design. Furniture design requires immense study into form and function, in this design each piece is carrying and dispersing the weight throughout the structure.  The designs geometric form gives both structural and aesthetic integrity.  Check it out after the jump! 

STUDENT: Hiroaki Suzuki
YEAR: 2012

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Exocarp Chair – Guillermo Bernal

It seems at every point in an architect’s career designing a chair is a must, maybe it is because it is the purest tangible object in which form follows function.  Designing a chair creates the desire to master this miniature structure yet hold to its minimalist form. Eames was obsessed with bringing his designs into realization, much like Guillermo Bernal was in creating his CNC Exocarp Chair.  Guillermo Bernal fascination with reptile and fruit scales comes through in his personal chair design.  Check it out after the jump! 

STUDENT: Guillermo Bernal
SCHOOL: 
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
YEAR: 2012

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WELL PROVEN CHAIR – Marjan Van Aubel & James Shaw

The wood furniture building industry is a far cry from a sustainable operation, as much as 80% of the wood timber used in the factories ends up in the trash.  Marjan  Van Aubel and James Shaw investigated a way in which to create furniture out of the waste through a chemical bond between sawdust and bio-resin.  The results were a chemical reaction, a material they have coined foamed wood, and a new chair design for Benchmark Studio.  Check it out after the jump!

STUDENT: Marjan Van Aubel & James Shaw
SCHOOL: 
London’s Royal College of Art
COURSE: American Hardwood Export Council –  Benchmark studio
YEAR: 2012

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KERF PAVILION – MIT


If you find yourself in the streets of Boston and wondering around MIT you may come across the Kerf Pavilion by Brian Hoffer, Christopher Mackey, Tyler Crain, and Dave Miranowski.  The pavilion is the results of semester worth of research into the design techniques of kerfing wood, the act of adding flexibility to wood through cutting it, and then married with modern day digital fabrication.  The pavilion structure is diverse in use from generating seating and shading all at the same time of supporting the structure.  Check out more after the jump!

SCHOOL:  MIT Department of Architecture
PROFESSORS: Brian HofferChristopher MackeyTyler Crain,Dave Miranowski
YEAR: 2012

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