(smow)chair v1.0

The motivation for the (smow)chair began with Chairless by Alejandro Aravena for Vitra.

Although a truly delightful product we were somewhat irritated by the fact that the design for Chairless wasn’t that, well,  “chairless” : rather replaces the tensions within a chair with the tensions in the users body.

The user becoming the chair and consequently limited in their movement while using Chairless.

But because the “chairless” concept so impressed us we decided to take the opportunity presented by the Vitra Design Museum cardboard furniture workshop and the exhibition “Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” to develop our own “chairless” chair.

Our criteria:

• 100% cardboard, no other material
• transportable
• as reduced a design as possible

Our first decision was to lose the legs. Chairs don’t need legs.

In western cultures we are so used to chairs with legs that we westerners find it quaint or even patronisingly “authentic” when we travel to other cultures where chairs with legs aren’t in everyday use.

But chairs don’t need legs.

And so the legs went.

MVS Chaise by Maarten van Severen for Vitra.

The basis of our design was Maarten Van Severen’s MVS Chaise from Vitra.

Its wonderful three sectioned form being the perfect basis for a folding “chair” with a seat, back and support.
The only question was how to gain the stability we required: without resorting to other materials.

After much unsuccessful experimentation the answer came via the (smow)warehouse team.

Not only are the (smow)warehouse team experts in the packing and shipping of designer furniture and the construction of USM Haller units - they also know a little bit about statics.

And it was this input that was to lead to the form of the (smow)chair v1.0

In essence “the chair” has been reduced to “the arms”.

The arms provide the stability and are responsible for the chair.
The back/support/seat section - the part that most understand as a “chair” - is in contrast interchangeable and expendable.

He/she who has the arms can build a chair -  he/she who has only the back/seat/support element cannot.

Two (smow)chairs ready for departure

In addition the longitudinal slit in the arms allow the chair to be safely packed together…. and in the folded form (smow)chair can be readily transported.

We, for example, brought two (smow)chairs back from Weil am Rhein tied to the back of a rucksack.

The development of the (smow)chair has not stopped and (smow)chair v2.0 is finished, v3.0 is expected soon.

A production model is however still some way off.

Over the coming weeks we will not only document the further development of the (smow)chair but also use the (smow)chair to explain a little about furniture design and the designer furniture industry.

(smow)chair and the art of reduction

Following Verner Panton’s red card against Fritz Haller, Denmark were forced into a change and so Arne Jacobsen lined-up against Maarten Van Severen.

And although this was never going to be a high-tempo encounter the crowd in Johannesburg did become somewhat impatient at the incredibly slow pace of the competition.

With both designers endlessly reworking and perfecting their pieces it was well into the second half before the first attack developed: a neat Ant Chair from Arne Jacobsen giving the old master of Danish design the slight advantage. Arne Jacobsen extended his lead with an Egg Chair and seemed to be heading for a clear victory before Maarten Van Severen salvaged a draw with a late .07 and Kast combination for Vitra.

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.

"Authorised Vitra Original"? Not yet!! The (smow)chair in development

Having decided on our concept, all we had to do was ensure that the structure had enough stability.

And although we knew that stability was going to be a problem, it always is with cardboard, we had seriously underestimated just how difficult it was going to be to incorporate stability into our plan without compromising weight, volume or indeed the very fabric of our concept.

It took about four minutes before our carefully considered sketches were consigned to the bin.

3D reality and 2D vision not being the most closely related beings in the universe.

Initially our plan involved a chair, based upon Maarten Van Severen’s MVS Chaise that could be converted between a “normal” sitting chair and a recliner.

Nice idea: just completely misplaced within the context of our larger concept.
And so despite the best efforts of the (smow) technical team that part of plan had to be sacrificed.

An early experiment in joining two pieces of cardboard

Shame. But we’ll get it next time.

However even with the new plan, we still had a numerous problems.
The principle one being realising the concept while maintaining a “reduced” design.

Almost all solutions to the stability problem either adding to the volume of the product or requiring the use of a material other than cardboard.

And so our initial 20 minute model building session quickly developed into a day spent in the smow(warehouse) cutting, folding, cursing, doubting, cutting, crying, cursing and folding again.

The decisive input then came from the (smow) USM Haller battalion.

An ingenious solution that not only solved our principle problem; but also opened a range of further options and so both triggered a wonderful late afternoon revival in our spirits and allowed us to dream sweet dreams yet again.

Now, we don’t want to compare our day spent folding and cutting cardboard with Charles and Ray Eames experiments with moulding plywood, Michael Thonet’s decades spent perfecting the process for bending wood nor the work undertaken in the Kartell laboratories to develop new plastic materials.

But.

Having spent a day turning a, on paper, relatively simple idea into a real product that fulfills a specific function and meets required standards, we are a little bit better placed to understand the problems real product designers have and the talent required to be successful.

And having spent a day turning a, on paper, relatively simple idea into a real product that fulfills a specific function and meets required standards we also have the (smow)chair.

The delightful and practical (smow)chair.

(smow)chair coming soon

Vitra Design Museum: Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction.

Parallel to its exhibitions the Vitra Design Museum organises workshops designed not only to accompany the exhibitions but much more to expand on them and so offer participants a new, active, insight into the theme. Or at least an aspect of the theme.

For the current exhibition “Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” this means, among others, workshops on cardboard furniture production.

Cardboard is without question one of the more challenging products that one can choose for furniture design.

As a cheap, plentiful and - generally- environmentally responsible product it appears to be perfect for use in modern furniture design.

Perfect that is were it not for its inherent instability and fragility problems.

Loving problems as we do we signed up for the workshop.

Having committed our first task was to decide on the product we wanted to develop.

Three sources of inspiration were to act as our guides.

Firstly the concept of the exhibition: Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction. Reduction. Regardless what we decided upon it had to involve using the design process to help “reduce” the product.

Chairless by Alejandro Aravena for Vitra

Among the current products on the market that make use of reduction in design is Chairless by Alejandro Aravena for Vitra.

As a product Chairless claims to remove the chair from the chair. And as such was our second source of inspiration.

For although we like the Chairless concept, for us what is actually does is take the static equilibrium that exist in a chair and replaces that with the system of muscular forces within the human body.

As such the user of Chairless is restricted in his or her movement, as every movement upsets the distribution of forces within the system thus creating instability. If you want to read your friends magazine, but it’s lying to far away - you have to “break” the chair in order to reach the magazine.

And so we decided to take up the “Chairless” idea and develop it with the intention of creating a truly “chairless” chair system that still allows the user full mobility.

MVS Chaise by Maarten van Severen from Vitra

Fairly quickly we landed upon the idea of a foldable system and taking our guidance from Maarten van Severn, an expert in reduced design, we based our concept on the geometry of his MVS Chaise.

The principle problem was - as always with cardboard - how do we guarantee the stability of the product?

With other materials such as plastic, wood or concrete one has a certain degree of inherent stability.

With cardboard one has to introduce the stability as a component of the design.

Frank Gehry, for example achieved the stability in his “Easy Edges” series through the layering of cardboard: chairs such as the Wiggle Side Chair being created by gluing numerous layers of cardboard together under extreme pressure.

The other “classic” solutions when working with cardboard are folding and insertion.

The question facing us was how could we best design our product, without losing sight of the desire to have it as “reduced” as possible.

And it was this question that was to dominate the development phase.

Vitra Design Museum: The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction

The (smow)blog team outing to the cardboard furniture workshop was coupled with a visit to the current Vitra Design Museum Exhibition: The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction.

We must admit to finding it more than a little ironic that an exhibition on “Design and the Art of Reduction” should be taking place in a building designed by Frank Gehry, especially when Tadao Ando’s Conference Pavilion is only some 10m away.

And after the long journey to Weil am Rhein this thought honestly kept us amused for about 4 hours.

The exhibition itself is divided into 12 thematic sections each of which deals with a different aspect of “reduction”; be it elements that the end customer is aware of, for example, geometry or lightness or those that remain hidden from the customer, for example reduction in logistics.

Stephan Schulz: Concrete Bowl

Some 160 objects illustrate the various themes ranging from design classics such as Michael Thonet’s Chair No. 14 or the Ant Chair by Arne Jacobsen for Fritz Hansen onto objects that are less well known - if every bit as interesting - such as Stephan Schulz’s concrete bowl or Marcel Wanders‘ Knotted Chair for Capellini.

Good design needn’t be complicated, less but more, form follows function - the number of design theories that encapsulate the practice of “reduction” are as numerous as they are legendary: yet at design show after design show we are confronted with products that attempt to win us over though their complexity and extravagance.

We also don’t know why that should be, but we suspect it has a lot to do with a saturated market and the associated increasing role that the internet plays in ensuring that your - probably completely superfluous - work is seen.

Which design blog is going to feature Jasper Morrison’s Ply-Chair when they have photo of a bookcase that looks like to two paradise birds engaging in a mating ritual atop Carmen Miranda?

Ok we would. But not many others.

For us the true art of reduction in design is when the designer reduces the volume of the product down to the absolute minimum - be it through the use of a new material, innovative joining of the individual elements or through reducing the exterior measurements.

.03 by Maarten Van Severen

One particular example that occurs to us being Maarten van Severen’s’ .03 with its integrated compound spring supports that give the chair its comfort and stability without unduly adding to the weight, volume or outer dimensions.

However as the exhibition “The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction” ably demonstrates  reduction can involve other processes.

Joe Colombo’s No 281 lamp, Wilhelm Wagenfeld’s tea service or Donald Judd’s Chair 84 proving nice examples of what can be achieved with the necessary talent and motivation.

On the negative side we must add that for our taste the exhibition highlighted the work of Charles and Ray Eames a little too heavily - specifically the dedication of the complete section “development” to their work looks suspiciously like a bit of editorial shoe-horning on the curators part.

That aside, for all interested in the design process, and especially where the difference between “designer” furniture - i.e. those furniture pieces where a targeted design process occurs- and cheaper, generic products lies, the Vitra Design Museum exhibition “The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction.” is definitely worth the trip.
The Essence of Things. Design and the Art of Reduction at the Vitra Design Museum runs until September 19th 2010. More details can be found at http://www.design-museum.de

Following his ankle injury Cesare “Joe” Colombo was replaced for this match by Antonio Citterio, one of the most experienced designers in the Italian squad.

Opening with a quick Mobil for Kartell Antonio Citterio quickly reinforced this with a Follow Me for Vitra. Despite the intensity of the opening Citterio couldn’t break Maarten Van Severn’s legendary calm and the doyen of Belgian furniture design responded with an elegant LCP for Kartell and MVS Chaise for Vitra combination and so cancelled out Antonio Citterio’s excellent work.

All further attempts by both sides made little headway, and the match ended 0:0

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.

Although this encounter was never going to be as extravagant as the opening  match, Fritz Haller and Maarten Van Severen fought a tense, minimalist battle in Durban.

Fritz Haller’s style has changed little since he broke onto the international design scene in the 1960s and his trademark mini, midi, maxi  approach ensured a typically solid Fritz Haller performance. Maarten Van Severen’s occasional forays were always very well considered  and perfectly executed; yet, despite .03 or .04 excellent attempts for Vitra Maarten Van Severen was unable to break Fritz Haller’s solid defence and the match ended 0:0

The Group A table and all Group A results can be found here.

In the past we have often talked about airports, airport design and airport furniture.

And not just because we want to demonstrate how much we travel and how often we are in airports.

But because we find it just as important that high-quality furniture is available in public spaces as in the home or office.

If you think your office furniture is well used - imagine the stress your average airport chair is put under.

From March 23rd until March 25th Europe’s largest airport terminal conference and exhibition will take place at Brussels Airport.

Airline airport seating by Sir Norman Foster for Vitra in Toulouse Blagnac airport

At Passanger Terminal EXPO senior airport planners, managers and designers will discuss in a series of conferences how to improve airports and the airport experience, while in the exhibition area over 150 producers will present their products- as the organisers put it- “from baggage handling and security to passenger check-in and seating solutions”

And, needless to say (smow) has all four areas covered.

Vitra provide a range of elegant public seating solutions from Eames plastic chairs, over designs from Maarten van Severen and on to the dedicated “Airline” range by Sir Norman Foster.

While for all desks and shop solutions - be it check in desks, security or display cabinets - the majestically flexible system USM Haller meets every challenge; and can also be integrated with baggage conveyor belts

And for baggage handling… there’s always the M 4 R from Tecta

More information on USM Haller airport solutions from (smow) can be found at http://airport.smow.com/ and you can read our reports from the 2010 Passenger Terminal EXPO here in the (smow)blog.

Passenger Terminal EXPO 201 with smow and USM Haller

As many of you will be aware, the construction of the VitraHaus was not without it’s controversy.

For all the decision to paint the outer walls black.

We at (smow)blog can however exclusively reveal that other options were considered.

And below we publish exclusive pictures of the rejected colour schemes.

VitraHaus in Hella Jongerius Polder sofa look

Berlin based, Dutch designer Hella Jongerius has created the Vitra Colour Laboratory to help encourage VitraHaus visitors to be more imaginative and creative in their use of colour. One version of the VitraHaus colour scheme played with Jongerius’ Polder Sofa colour scheme.

VitraHaus with an Algue by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec finish

Breton brothers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s classic Algue room divider was also considered as a possible colour scheme for the outer walls of the VitraHaus. Was however rejected owing to the number of Bouroullec items that are on display inside the VitraHaus.

VitraHaus a la Kast by Maarten van Severen

Belgian designer Maarten van Severen is one of the real “in house” favourites at Vitra, and a man whose time came far too soon. As a tribute to one of the true legends of Belgian design a colour scheme was created that paid homage to Maarten van Severen’s Kast shelving unit.

VitraHaus in Verner Panton Panton Chair classic red

The cooperation between Vitra and Danish designer Verner Panton opened a whole chapter in the Vitra story; the creation of specially commissioned pieces in collaboration between Vitra and the designer. In honour of the life and work of Verner Panton the possibility of painting the outer walls of the VitraHaus in Panton Chair classic red was considered.

VitraHaus from Vitra as a homage to Charles and Ray Eames

No two people are more intimately associated with the Vitra story than Charles and Ray Eames. And so it was no surprise that one of Ray Eames’ classic textile designs - namely small dot pattern - should be considered for use on the outer walls of the VitraHaus.

In the end, black won through as the outer colour of the VitraHaus…. but it could all have been so different…

VitraHaus as it could have been: In Millerstripe Multicolored Bright by Alexander Girard finish

If a picture really does paint a thousand words; a dozen VitraHaus photos here saves us an awful lot of typing.

Below a few of our favourite images. And if you have any of your own photos that you would like to share with us, please email them to blog@smow.de Full credit will naturally be given for any photos used.

VitraHaus: The media await the start of the press conference

VitraHaus: Rolf Fehlbaum, Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron

VitraHaus: Rolf Fehlbaum in the media focus

Vitrahaus: As seen through a Living Tower from Verner Panton

VitraHaus: Spiral staircases are an important feature of the VitraHaus

Akari lamps in the VitraHaus

VitraHaus cloakroom: Obviously with Eames Hang it Alls

Maarten van Severen and Verner Panton in VitraHaus

Fourth floor of the VitraHaus by Herzog and de Meuron

Amoebe by Verner Panton in the VitraHaus

A House of Cards by Charles and Ray Eames in the VitraHaus

VitraHaus by Herzog and de Meuron: Organic forms

Vitrahaus: Vitrine

One of the last remaining Eames Mammoths has taken up residence in the VitraHaus

The lesser-spotted woolly Vegetal graze on the VitraHaus Cafe Terrace