ARC12 Stoelontwerp

1
ARC12 Stoelontwerp
‘Integration’
2
The concept behind ‘Integration’
Integration of a product in personal life
In 1885 my Great-Grandparents bought the ‘Kinder-Speisesessel no. 3’ (child’s high table chair no. 3) for
their son, my Grand-father, as it is depicted in the famous Thonet Catalogue from that same year.
After my Grandfather his two younger brothers and one sister grew up in it. A generation later my
grandfather’s three sons grew up in it and since I was born in the Dutch Indies the chair skipped one
generation and had to wait for better times in my Grandfather’s attic. My two daughters grew up in it and
some decades later this beautiful chair, still in mint condition is used to host little cousins and toddlers from
friends who come for dinner. This chair with its delicate patina of time has many stories to tell and it is
always with some emotion when it can be used again and it is always done with reference to its history.
When not in use it has its own prominent position in the living room only to be beautiful and always the
oldest family member alive. Will ‘Integration’ likewise become a cherished family member for its users?
3
Integration in the Thonet history of industrial innovation
‘Integration’ pays tribute to one the most interesting and far-reaching industrial innovations of the 19th
Century in the development and production of consumer goods especially furniture. Studying the Thonet
history of industrial innovation has been and always will be a must for any contemporary designer and
product developer. Thonet industrialised the age-old handcraft technique of bending wood with water over
open fire by introducing steam and bending moulds in a fabrication process of serial production. With this
technology it became possible to produce identical parts with a high enough precision to develop furniture
in a modular system. It became possible to choose from a series of different interchangeable parts in
different design styles to assemble a chair, stool, bench and many other furniture pieces as the 1885
catalogue shows.
In the 1920ties Thonet followed the same strategy in the development of bent steel tube furniture as
catalogues from that era clearly show. The just invented seamless steel tube made bending with high
precision possible on an industrial scale, which again made use of interchangeable parts possible. Nickel
and chromium electro plating became the apt finishing for this modernistic style.
Thonet has followed this line of innovations ever since with the early introduction of plastics and other new
materials and nowadays the EXP collection is a brooding place of new materials and innovative
manufacturing technologies as well as new design styles.
Integration in the history of design
Looking at the design history of Thonet is at the same time looking at the history of design in general. In the
early days the bent wood technology was the given tool for visualising the florid design style of those days.
The modernist architects and designers of the 1920ties and later found in the Thonet steel tube technology
the visual expression they were after to realise their dreams for a new transparent and clean image with an
industrial expression.
Especially Dutch designers have always shown great interest in the possibilities of production technology to
create new visual expressions.
Integration in social history
From the early days onward Thonet furniture entered all social layers of the private, public and office
environment. It made new concepts possible for the interiors not only of private houses. It’s influence in
civic public life for the masses like the public café for man and women alike, the Vienna dance halls with the
Straus waltzes and the many new designed restaurants as well as in office interiors has been substantial as
many examples show.
The design concept of ‘Integration’
It can be manufactured in different materials like carbon, aluminium, and steel, birch plywood, bio-based
polymers, solid wood, Corian and other plastics with enough integral strength.
It can be produced with different manufacturing technologies like CNC milling, water jet cutting, laser
cutting, carbon pre-preg moulding, thermoplastic and thermoset moulding and 3D-printing.
Depending the choice of the user it is factory assembled from various parts in various combinations.
To save transportation costs ‘Integration’ can be disassembled in the sides and separately the seat and
backrest. With the entry are some parts in different materials to give an idea about possible options.
The 1:1 model
The model of the entry ‘Integration’ is made from Corian and carbon sheet. Seat and backrest are (hand)
moulded, while the negative moulds have been made with CNC-milling. All the other parts are made with
water jet cutting. With the model are some examples of parts in other materials as well as some samples in
carbon and corian.
Drawings in this presentation are developed in Rhinoceros 3D drawing software. The different flat parts are
transformed into closed surface lines and send in DXF Format to the water jet cutting machine. The 3D
drawings of the seat and backrest are transformed into a mesh drawing of the mould and directly send to
the CNC milling machine. The moulds are milled in Polyurethane.
ONE DOES NOT SIT ON A MODEL ALTHOUGH THE CONSTRUCTION IS STURDY ENOUGH. IT IS
THE SEAT THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN MADE SOMEWHAT THICKER. (4mm.)
‘Integration’ is a system with many options to assemble a variety of furniture pieces
with the chair as central piece. Only a few of the other options are shown here.
The chair
4
5
‘Integration’ as dinner table or office chair can come with and without armrests. When there are no armrests
the empty position in the construction is filled with a small part. A sample of that part in carbon comes with
this model.
There is no stackable version yet developed for ‘Integration’. By repositioning the back-legs to the sides this
option can be realised.
6
7
‘Integration’
in a theatre setting.
8
‘Integration’ as a low easy chair with or without armrests.
9
‘Integration’
as a high stool with or without armrests
10
‘Integration’ as a bar stool by introducing a lower backrest with carbon tubes
11
‘Integration’ as a high children’s chair.
3D drawing software has a simple command option to scale a design. This is done linear. The high stool
has been scaled with 83% and ‘Integration’ was transformed into a children’s high stool.
12