Chair 01 – Matej Chabera

Chair 01 was my diploma project at GRAC Amsterdam. Research, testing and design process ranged from October 2007 till April 2008. My consultants were Henri Snel, Ira Koers, Edina Németh and Willem van Seumeren. Chair 01 earned me a nomination for Mart Stam Prijs 2008, an international award for innovation in chair design.

Chair 01 represents my transition from graphic design to objects. The design process began with graphics. I developed a method to record contours and generate symmetrical closed loops from the lines. It lead to a library of flat symmetrical graphical shapes that have been transformed into material in several ways. One graphic shape makes one spatial functional object. One piece of material, two dimension into three dimensions. The concept was very clear yet the process was quite complex.

Flat material usually doesn't have any structural strength. It needs to be a profile with a regular cross-section to gain strength. May be it was my naivety, but I pursued to find a way to create objects that will become structural by their entire shape, not by the components they are built from. After testing various carbon fibre and glass fibre composites I tested stainless steel because of its relatively generous elastic limit. It became clear that its much more interesting to search for strength with a flexible material rather than to work with a material that is strong right away. Several stainless steel models were made in 1:2 and 1:1 scale where the key aim was to make best use of the elastic properties of the material for the strength of the construction. —

A flexible material always has an elastic limit. Its deformation is reversible if you do not cross this limit. For thin stainless steel the elastic limit is quite far. I discovered that I can generate structural strength in a much more complex way than by creating a profile. It turned out that the elastic energy of the whole object can be locked inside its structure, playing close to the steel's elastic limit. This means that the sheet metal used for the chair can be bent relatively easily when flat but when the structure is welded together it turns into a sort of compressed spring that can carry a lot of weight. As you press a spring it becomes gradually stiffer and the same happens here, only the object is locked in the compressed state.

Chair 01 is therefore quite flexible yet incredibly strong considering its made from one flat sheet. It is welded in three places and its these welds that hold its compressed energy together. If the welds would brake the chair would explode into a sort of semi-flat state. This also means that its large curves have not been shaped with tools, they are the natural response of the material. Its the same principle as when you start to bend a stick by its ends: it will also perform a long curve along its whole length. The forms are therefore completely generated and sort of un-designed which I find very appealing. The curves are the natural behavior of stainless steel under compression. — M Ch

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3 — The stainless steel is hand polished and softly brushed along the direction of the 100mm stripe. This creates very rich reflections and dark tones. In most light situations the surface of the whole chair shows a very wide array of shades of grey ranging from total black to blinding white. This also exaggerates the curves giving the object even more expressive looks.

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5 — The TIG welding on Chair 01 has been done by an old master. I forgot to add welding extrusions to the laser cutout without which it is very difficult to weld an edge of a sheet and avoid burns. He still managed to weld the stainless steel with absolute precision.

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Chair 01 —