OUT OF THE WOODS, twelve seats for London Design Festival 2012

15/09/2012. [LON] UK 14-23/10/2012
metalocus, ANA SEGURA, LUIS DE GREGORIO

The Victoria & Albert Museum exhibit "Out of the Woods: Adventure of 12 hardwood chairs", an exhibition that is the result of work by students of the Royal College of Art in London in collaboration with the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC). The challenge, designing a functional chair seat or in the U.S. leafy wood of their choice.

PHYLLIDA, by David Horan and Nicholas Gardner. Named after the sculptor Phyllida Barlow, this piece was inspired by one of her works. With the aim of creating a packable bench out of harmonious materials, Irish David Horan and Australian Nicholas Gardner have designed a flat-pack bench made out of a tulipwood board, 1.5mm ply, bungee cord and no screws. The legs fit in to tulipwood base rings, and to a circular groove in the underside of the bench.

PHYLLIDA, by David Horan and Nicholas Gardner. Named after the sculptor Phyllida Barlow, this piece was inspired by one of her works. With the aim of creating a packable bench out of harmonious materials, Irish David Horan and Australian Nicholas Gardner have designed a flat-pack bench made out of a tulipwood board, 1.5mm ply, bungee cord and no screws. The legs fit in to tulipwood base rings, and to a circular groove in the underside of the bench.

BEEEENCH, by Petter Thörne. The author was conscious about making a modest, yet elegant piece of furniture that is economical in is use of materials. His design, Beeeench, is a 3.5 metre beam structure made up of thin strips of American ash. Ash is a very strong and flexible timber; “For me this project has been about pushing the material to the limit,” says Thörne. Beeeench has removable legs making it easy to transport.

SNELSON CHAIR, by Sam Weller. The deigner has always had a keen interest in mechanics and engineering principles. His stool is inspired by Kenneth Snelson's sculptural works that are built around the principle of tensegrity (a concept later defined by Buckminster Fuller), where components of a structure are held together by the continuous tension of binding strings. Weller's design uses string under tension to hold together the elements, which do not even need to touch.

FLOATING CHAIR, por Bobby Petersen y Tom Gottelier. wanted to create an experience, not just a seat. The materials are marine ply and veneered in American cherry, which was chosen both for its high strength-to-weight ratio and for its colour, which will darken in sunlight. The keel is in American white oak, which is both durable and heavy. The boat can be controlled by a smart phone with GPS, that drives the propulsion system allowing to sit back and relax while the boat takes you for a ride.

SOLTITUDE, by Mary Argyrou. This chair is inspired by the traditionally crafted church chairs found in her home country of Cyprus. Staying true to the values of the church, the chair is modest in its expression and its form engages with the longevity and significance of furniture within a church setting. Made in cherry, it has solid sides with a hinge fold-down seat between them. With the seat down, the user can step back entirely into their own private space.

SQUEEZE CHAIR, by Nic Wallenberg. This London-born designer has created a stackable chair with ergonomic curves. In order to make the chair as sustainable as possible Wallenberg has taken advantage of the strength and flexibility of American hickory and, with the use of bolts, he has squeezed the chair into its desired shape. The chair thereby gains ergonomic curves without the use of energyconsuming techniques such as steam bending or press molding.

TREE FURNITURE, by Antón Álvarez. This unusual bench follows the concept that every piece should be carved simply from a tree cut down and left on the forest floor where it has been cut an idea that had to be adapted slightly since he was working with American hardwood in England. By means of a portable sawmill and simple hand tools, an American cherry log has been made into a bench. Alvarez' idea is that it would be a pleasure to happen on such a bench during a walk through the woods.

NUM. 4, by Santi Guerrero Font. This chair reflects the spanish designer's interest in the Danish style which typically showcases construction techniques. His chair is visually very simple and honest; you can see where the legs pass through the structure, and where their ends become flush with the seat. By choosing American ash, one of the strongest timbers, Guerrero Font managed to slim the thickness of the timber required from 20mm to 12mm.

LEFTOVERS CHAIR, by Lauren Davies. The author's interest in food and cooking led her to designing a chair that could be described in the form of a recipe, made up from a variety of hardwoods with a strong affiliation to food. Davies' chair is made up of red oak, alder, hard maple, white oak, walnut, black cherry, soft maple, hickory and pecan. The flavourings, which supply colour, include saffron, paprika, blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, beetroot, blackberry, pomegranate and onion skins.

WELL PROVEN CHAIR, by James Shaw y Marjan van Aube. This chair is an experimental project exploring new sustainable ways of production, utilising timber waste from any factory. Combining timber shavings collected from the workshop floor, bio-resin, water and dye, the designers moulded the porridge-like mass to a classic chair which dried to form a hard structure. This unique piece sits on elegant legs of turned ash, contrasting with the liveliness of the seat.

DESIGNED LEGACY, by Michael Warren. Upon the realisation that one-inch thick, kiln-dried timber requires much less energy to produce than thicker stock, the author set out to design furniture using a single piece of timber measuring 25 by 145mm by 1.6m long. Stemming from a great desire to minimise environmental footprint, Warren avoided steam bending to create the seat, instead using two laminations glued together. The finished stool weighs only 1.5kg.

FOLDED CHAIR, by Norie Matsumoto. Japanese designer and furniture-maker wanted her design to be a beautiful timber sculpture that could also work as a chair, rather than the reverse approach which is more common. Folded Chair combines American ash and walnut, playing with the light and dark tones and making a point at its asymmetric nature. The fact that it can be folded away when not in use makes it more versatile, helping to guarantee its longevity.