Flatpack Chair — Arian Chandra
Flatpack Chair
Project Summary
My partner and I designed a chair considering material constraints, utilizing a single sheet of 29" x 47" oriented strand board for part fabrication. Additionally, we worked with packaging constraints, ensuring all parts fit within a 1" thick box and are easy for consumers to assemble. We developed 30+ laser-cut cardboard models before water-jet cutting the final design at human scale. We experimented with asymmetrical placement of circles and ellipses to create a structural piece which can hold a live load of 250 lbs/113 kgs.
Flatpack Chair
Cardboard Model Iterations
Material Cutout Sheet
Final Design
Reflection
All in all, I believe this chair was an exemplary study of furniture design, 3D modeling, prototyping, and abstraction. If I were to continue this study, I would enjoy further developing the chair out of a more solid material, like a sturdier wood or metal. Also, I would experiment with offsetting the "X" shape supporting the structure so that it doesn't sit exactly in the middle. With so many other asymmetrical elements in the chair, it feels like the support section doesn't follow that design language as consistently as it could have. The same goes for the hardware; machine screws and locknuts were great for keeping the pieces tightly bound together but definitely detracted from the playfulness of the chair's other elements.
Flatpack Chair
Project Summary
My partner and I designed a chair considering material constraints, utilizing a single sheet of 29" x 47" oriented strand board for part fabrication. Additionally, we worked with packaging constraints, ensuring all parts fit within a 1" thick box and are easy for consumers to assemble. We developed 30+ laser-cut cardboard models before water-jet cutting the final design at human scale. We experimented with asymmetrical placement of circles and ellipses to create a structural piece which can hold a live load of 250 lbs/113 kgs.
Final Design
Reflection
All in all, I believe this chair was an exemplary study of furniture design, 3D modeling, prototyping, and abstraction. If I were to continue this study, I would enjoy further developing the chair out of a more solid material, like a sturdier wood or metal. Also, I would experiment with offsetting the "X" shape supporting the structure so that it doesn't sit exactly in the middle. With so many other asymmetrical elements in the chair, it feels like the support section doesn't follow that design language as consistently as it could have. The same goes for the hardware; machine screws and locknuts were great for keeping the pieces tightly bound together but definitely detracted from the playfulness of the chair's other elements.