When was the last time you felt loved by your chair? It’s a rare expectation from our furniture, but it’s possible. That's because good designers can imbue inanimate objects with human characteristics. The Honest Chair by Eny Parker, winner of the 2015 Bienenstock Furniture and Interior Design Competition, illustrates how this dynamic is achieved with something that we use every day, but rarely notice.
As designers, we should not only appreciate materials, but push their natural characteristics to become something unimaginable. - Eny Parker
The body-embracing curves of The Honest Chair, the first prototype that Eny has manufactured as a graduate student in furniture design at Savannah College of Art and Design, are hard won. Its simplicity masks the difficulty of crafting a compound curve, a wood bending technique requiring the maker to bend Italian plywood in two different directions - one along the grain and the other against it.
Many cracked sheets of plywood later and the Frank Gehry-inspired chair was born. Here’s how Eny made it:
"The start of my process included sketches made in conjunction with paper models. Design No. 4 was chosen for further development."
"Due to its organic form, shaping the prototype mold by hand was the best approach. I traced the elevations to establish the shape and then cut the foam to its profile using an electric wire, which took many hours."
"Because the bending ply prefers to bend in one direction, pre-steaming was necessary for the compound curve. This was done several times until I found the desirable radius. After several attempts, which included some cracking, an acceptable form emerged. Six layers of bending ply were successfully used for the prototype. After steaming each layer, the pieces were left to dry for the gluing process in the vacuum bag with the mold."
"The chair was then trimmed to the right shape and height. Biscuits were added to create a flush seam between both shapes, while two stainless steel Chicago screws were added on the slim area where the legs meet for support."
The Bienenstock Furniture Library will award Eny a $5,000 scholarship at the High Point Market in April. Eny has a background in interior design, like fellow SCAD graduate student Christian Dunbar, a finalist in the 2015 competition.
Christian’s Arcal Chair is a salute to designer Milo Baughman. His visit to the Thayer Coggin plant during the High Point Market in October inspired the mid-century modern piece. "During the factory tour, I saw a few unfinished chair backs with slots removed from the backs," said Christian. "I thought it would be interesting to design a piece that celebrates slots like those."
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