-diplom_exhibition-

well, ladies and gentlemen ...i did it, i actually finshed my diplom project and set it up in the exhibition hall 30 min before the deadline. yes, i too am amazed. here are a few photos i took before sleeping for 14 hours.

-plywood_model-

according to my mental time plan, i would have had the plywood prototype finished by the beginning of this week. well, that didn't quite work out. last week was the 'werkstadt woche', which means all the tables and boxes and such were being built for the exhibition ...which means the table saw was constantly being used by different people. so, i was dumb and tried to work during the day while all the people were working. basically i got next to nothing accomplished.

on saturday i decided it was time to switch to night shifts when the workshop would be empty, or near empty. by working nights and sleeping days on saturday and sunday i was able to finish the plywood prototype, but now i still have to get the leather cut and glue that shiat...

as always it will be a close call, but i should be able to get it all done..

-sunday-

-patterns+samples-

today i worked on the leather pattern for the chair and made some sample variations for the wood finish.



from left to right the samples are: white stain, waxed and linseed oil. i think the white stain looks terrible. i like the waxed and the linseed oil, but perhaps the linseed oil is too yellowish... tomorrow the high gloss white version will be done and i can compare that to the rest.

-…no_wait,_there_are_problems-

apparently, there is still a problem with the stability of the chair. when pressure to the seat area is applied away from the wall, the mdf flexes, allowing the chair to pivot over the circled corner. when the chair pivots over that corner, the front of the chair loses contact with the floor, allowing it to move away from the wall. i hope that a slight adjustment in the form, combined with the added strength of the leather will provide enough stiffness to stop this pivoting. unfortunately, i will only know if this works after the first plywood/leather prototype is built.

-the_solution-

i made a test with the 3mm leather to see if it would take bending over multiple angles and miter joints. it held for the initial test, but i'll set it in a bent position over a longer period of time.





as discussed in the last review, i tested out the idea of hanging the chair to the wall give it the additional support it needs. this worked out quite well, but i am really not that keen on the idea of requiring a wall-mounted plate to support what the chair structually can't handle.





after testing wall mount it was clear that it could be a solution, but i still wanted an better, more fitting fix than one which required drilling holes in the wall. a simple way was to join the backrest with the seat (the point where the most instability was at this point) and see where it goes from there. at first i just joined the backrest and seat with a triangle which ran parallel to the wall. surprisingly this was all it needed to hold. however, to be more true to the form i adjusted the new triangle's position to flow into the wall more, like the backrest. this not only solved the stability of the chair, but did it in a way which doesn't require drilling, gives adequate support and improved comfort to the chair.

-mdf_prototype_complete-

for the mdf prototype i glued cloth to the joints instead of leather. obviously the cloth doesn't react in the same way the leather does, but it holds quite well and is much cheaper.





i didn't have time to make the edge connections as i would've liked before the review, so i just used zip ties to connect the edges.

after finishing the mdf prototype my greatest fear turned out to be true. the thin material doesn't have a large enough contact surface where the mitered edges meet.

last friday we also had the final review of our project before the deadline. we came to the conclusion that the best, or perhaps, most fitting way to fix the problem was to "hang" the chair onto the wall. i'm not totally happy with this idea, but i'll see what comes out of it. i need to get the final design finished so i can start on the final prototype next week. this leaves me with one week to finish the prototype and one week to finish the graphics for the exhibition.

-leather tests-

today i got some leather samples from a local leather company and from our material stock in the school. from the leather company i got two styles of furniture leather, which is used just for covering padded furniture. from the school i got some 3mm thick leather used for cantilever-style chairs. i made a view test glueing the leather to birch plywood using wood glue and contact adhesive. the furniture leather, 1mm-1.2mm thick, seems to have too much stretch. while the 3mm thick leather the definately strong enough, but is perhaps so stiff that it won't be able to handle multiple bends at different angles. difference in glue was minimal, but i will test the maximum stress points tomorrow after the glue has had a good 24 hours to cure.



since i find the 3mm leather too thick, i made a second test with some 2mm belt leather that i have. the belt leather seems to be a good comprimise between the furniture and the 3mm. now i just need to find a good/cheap leather supplier in switzerland ...haha ...'cheap in switzerland'.

***edit***
everytime i mentioned 3mm leather, i meant 4mm and everytime i mentioned 2mm, i meant 3mm.

-mdf_prototype…-

the work on the mdf-prototype continues ...slowly, but ...slowly.

-prototype (beta)-

recently i've been working on an mdf prototype that hopefully will stand without the foam support. i just hope i can find a good way to stabilize everything. after making approximate measurements of the angled surfaces of the chair; i continued by testing each measurement on scrap wood before making the final cuts in the 8mm mdf. the first plywood prototype will use 9mm birch plywood (for the mdf-prototype, 8mm was the closest we have in stock at the school). so far some problems arose in the area where many of the mitred edges meet, which i had expected.

-angles!!-

should i take the time to try and round the angles up or down? …i think it might cause more problems and trouble than if i were to just leave it as it is.

-breaking the form-

i decided the best way to get away from the triangular forms is to break it up with another form. since i wanted to integrate padding of some type, it gives me the opportunity to use a different material as a graphic element. here are some of the experiments with patterns with cardboard models.

-workin' ...for the man-

today and the next two days i'll be working at my part-time job in domushaus book store. for me it a great place to work: good pay, not too much stress and access to all the newest books. plus in these summer months it's not that busy and i'm able to check out the tons of books at will.

-grcic made me do it!-

yesterday was the second review of our projects and i presented the 1:1 model of the chair. everything went really well, frédéric (instructor) and jörg boner (expert) found the chair very comfortable and the prinicple of konstruction/folding quite interesting. there was only one problem, and i knew it would come to this; when looking at the form of the chair with all its triangular surfaces one is directly reminded of konstantin grcic and his 'chair one'. during the process of making the form one part of me was saying that this form is too close to the design of grcic and one side was saying that the triangle is the best shape of this asymmetrical folded volume.

basically the concensus is: i need to rethink the shapes of the form and see where i can make changes to 'get the grcic out'. frédéric and jörg said that it wasn't bad that the form reminds one of grcic, but it would be much better when one can look at my chair and think of me, not grcic.

-un_fold-

the process of unfolding has begun. i tried another variation, but that required some parts to over-lap when unfolded, which i don't want.

-the shell-

today was a short one, but i was fairly efficient. i finished making "shell" around the foam form in 4mm mdf (medium denisty fiberboard). the next step is to find the best location to cut it apart the shell and make a small paper model to test the best way to fold it.

-forming…sit…forming…sit…-

the form of the chair is coming along well, i'm starting to like it more now that i connected it to the corner. however, triangular shapes are quite 'fashionable' in the modern design and architecture scene. therefore i'm a bit afraid that the form will come across as trying to fit into the latest trend. for me, the triangle really fits well to the corner ...three converging edges, three converging walls...i guess i'll see how it is received by the instructor and expert at the next presentation.



…leif enjoying some of the asymmetrical comfort the chair has to offer.

-wood>foam>form-

i didn't feel like folding paper to find a form, so i just continued to work 1:1 in the wood workshop. incidentally, this is the only corner that was free in the workshop, or in the school for that manner …actually there were some brooms that i had to move aside. all of the other corners are filled with some crap.

using the sitting-machine (made by boris gratry) i was able to find what i found to be an optimal sitting position for the corner. from these specifications i made a wooden basis for which i had planned to modify for the final form. i soon realized to speed things up a bit and it would be much easier to get the results i want by making a basis form out of styrofoam. then i have the ability to quickly cut and tape to make the changes i want.

-1:1 corner-

today i was determined to try out the idea based upon the pinart thing, but after a bit of cinema 4d experimentation, i quickly dropped that idea. it's sort of what i had in my head, but the changes i need to make for the static function of the chair will cause it to go into a direction which i think will look like crap.

then i went into the wood workshop to make a something that would allow me to sit in the corner in which the corner was supporting my weight. so, i put two boards together and got this:



the main problem when sitting symetrically in the corning is that one's shoulders are smashed together when leaning back into the corner. it is much more comfortable when sitting along one wall, with the back to the other. therefore, i am going to go back the those damned triangles and design a lounge chair that extends along one wall, while using the corner as support. i will return to the paper and cardboard folding tomorrow to find the form i need.



…oh yea, julie made some tasty macaroni with tomato pesto.