The XY Chair was my Midterm Project for the RISD Industrial Design Deptartment's Chair studio course. The Project focused on utilizing laser cut patterning on sheets of 1/4 inch Baltic Birch Ply wood in order to manipulate the material into more plastic and flexible forms
My focus for this chair was to create a seat and back that was comfortable as well as tested the sitter's perception for fragility and material strength by lasercutting away large sections of the chair.
1/4" Scale sketch models exploring form possiblities
Through Sketch Modelling I found that an X and Y shaped cut out would allow complex multi-directional curvature
I Tested the shaping of the seat and back in this mock up as well as assest whether or not I could feel the cut out region
The Seat and Back (X and Y) were shaped by vacuforming 4 layers of laser cut Baltic Birch, bending ply wood into foam CNC cut foam molds. The Frame was welded and shaped by me using .5" hot roll steel.
Final Chair
