As the final project from the Fine Furniture Program at Camosun College, I designed a prototype of a lounge reading chair, following a continuous curved chape with the idea of having two reclinable positions and a back shelf to display books.
To achieve it, I relied on bent lamination for the structure of the two separate parts (base and seat), and bicycle parts (as a seat post, stems, wheel hubs and a wheel fast release) as the central joint and pivoting feature.
So, I spent the five week challenge period designing and building multiple jigs (CNC routed), milling tiny strips of Western Maple, gluing and clamping the strips into the forms (both with clamps and vacuum bag), shaping maple boards and birch plywood, and mostly fixing problems related to this first time prototyping a new design and new techniques as bent lamination.
The seat was upholstered with commercial cotton rope wrapped around the frame, and finished with Osmo.
The project was displayed in the final public exhibition at the Cedar Hill Recreation Centre in Victoria (Saanich), next to the beautiful chairs built by my colleagues of the program.
As a result of the first attempt, surely "functionality didn't follow form" because the gravity centre of the chair made it difficult to get in and out, as well as leaning back. So, now that the show is over and adrenaline is back to normal, during the following days I'll be working on a second prototype adjusting the seat frame.