14 Product and Spatial Design Masters students at Finland’s Aalto University School of Arts, Design, and Architecture each responded to the brief for a café chair to be made from the same material – blackened ash – resulting in 14 different prototypes.
Kuu by Mette Kahlos
The chairs are all made of solid ash, which was available to the students in two dimensions – eight by 24 millimetres or 24 by 24 millimetres – and stained black – and were created in response to a brief to design a chair for a fictional café named Chat Noir, alongside tableware including ashtrays by Erin Turkoglu and espresso cups by Saija Halo.
Espresso Cups by Saija Halko
“The ‘tight’ design brief put creative thinking to the test,” supervising professor Jouko Järvisalo told coadg. “It was given in order to challenge the students to seek their own, unique interpretation of the theme. Solid ash was carefully chosen for its natural qualities – it is tough and strong, so it enabled the use of minimal dimensions, encouraging the students to explore and learn about construction when designing and building their chairs.”
Lemonade by Mari Laajasalo
The professor went on to explain that black had been chosen to highlight the structural and graphic characteristics of each chair, and because of its historical use in cafés.
Mio by Daniela Weintraub
The café setting was important too. “A café chair is a general chair,” says Järvisalo. “But more than that, the cafe is a historically significant environment because it allows culture in general to flourish. The objective was to give the students a culturally rich context to work with. Cafes are also familiar settings for the students, creating a natural environment for them to approach.”
Unicorn by Yinjie Liang
Despite a tight brief and material restrictions, the project resulted in 14 very different chairs. Some, such as Lemonade by Mari Laajasalo and Pece by Collin Velkoff are simple contemporary reinterpretations of the form, while others such as Yinjie Liang’s Unicorn are a total re-imagination of the café chair.
Taipumus by Soon Shim
Kuu by Mette Kahlos and Mio by Daniela Weintraub both incorporate a continuous circular arm- and backrest, while Hector by Karoliina Heikkinen and Soon Shim’s Taipumus both use an armchair shape to envelope the sitter.
Hector by Karoliina Heikkinen
“All 14 pieces are distinctly original and represent 14 strong interpretations of the same design task,” says Järvisalo. What they have in common is a geometric and sculptural quality.
The Black Ashtray by Erin Turkoglu
The students were supervised by Professor Jouko Järvisalo, Lecturer Martin Relander and assistant Natalia Baczynska Kimberley, and the collection was shown as part of Greenhouse at the Stockholm Furniture Fair 09 – 13 February 2016.
Pece by Collin Velkoff
Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture presented a similar project last year, for which 14 furniture design students created 14 chair prototypes from blue plywood and black tubular steel.
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- Look Like Love launches talent search for new designers
- Andrea Ponti launches side table inspired by Hong Kong street signs
- confessions of a design geek raises £1,750 in new charity partnership
- Max Lamb slices up 187-year-old tree to make 130 functional objects
With thanks to Andre Pozusis for the photography.
