Chairs — The Anh

studying a systematic approach to design

Core Idea: Analyzing 2 famous chairs, then morphing them together to a specific use context.
Medium: 2D + 3D
Outcome: 5 morphed chairs, 1 recontextualized chair, 1 infographic poster
Year: 2019
Time spent: 1 months

From a list of famous chairs in design, I had to conduct a geometrical and functional analysis of each chair:

the geometrical principles of the chair as a whole, the proportions of its formal parts, and their interrelationships.
each part of the chair in relation to the user and to the context of use;
the different materials of the chair and their function; the symbolic qualities of the chair and their meanings.

First up was the MYTO chair - by German designer Konstantin Grcic

MYTO is monoblock, molded from Ultradur® High Speed, a very molecularly fine plastic material, therefore is suitable for any environment and weather condition.
Myto is a symetrical chair, which posses a sleek form (expands top to bottom).
Multiple basic shapes with rounded edges that smoothens the straight, industrial outlines. (Cantilever meaning there’re only 2 legs that converge and bends backwards)
Bends are ‘open’ angles (greater than 90), only one angle is 75.
Therefore, it becomes an open and welcoming design.
Main features can be broken downdown to triangles and very angled geometry.
As if Grcic tried to hide the sharpness under the soft contured legs.
A vehicular design with vents / grilles.
No moving parts, no hinges or nuts and bolt, just a plain and pure form.

Aluminum frame, no moving parts
The hexagons imitates a soccer ball‘s structure, or a turtle’s shell.
The main part of the chair are based on octagon and hexagon, which consists of many triangles.
A simple trapezoid-shaped lower half that exudes a sense of stability and angularity,
also helps to accentuate the upper half - being very bold and striking.

Stage 2, I had to morph one chair into the other, using the forms of the two selected chairs as design constraints.

The final 5 morph experiments

After Stage 1 (Analysis) and Stage 2 (Morphing), came Stage 3 (Context)
I was given a random use context of “urban square setting, for 3-5 people”
Choosing the 3rd and 4th chair from the 5 morphed chairs above, I went on to acclimatize them to the given context.

The finalized and recontextualized chair

Real-life visualizations

The last phase of the study was to design an infographic of every and all insights and designs I’ve generated.

I decided to implement a sci-fi theme(again :> ) to the infographic. Angular, Cold, Maximalist(?).
I went with a classic thirds compostion, as seen in the final poster.

> next: Mecha Buffalo - concept art

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