In essence, a chair is a bench with a backrest.
Deceptively simple.
Seated on a bench, your weight sends its' full force downwards. The successful bench needs to be only strong enough to support you.
Add the backrest and the resulting second direction of force backward sends the whole design into engineering upheaval. To make matters more complex, most sitters' backs are far harsher critically than are their seats, so that backrest had better be in a good place when the lean meets it. And if all that weren't sufficient, bring aesthetics to the attempt to marry what is at the core of its' combination an odd unbalance. It's no wonder the chair is at the top of the list of designers' obsessions.
Please accept and add my latest submission to the world of chairs: the backspring chair.
Two simple, squared-off one inch thick multi-ply planes are joined by a semi-circle of white powder-coated 5/8" thick rolled aluminum. At the rear, the backrest is attached to the aluminum arc by an Xlarge wing nut on threaded rod that rides in a vertical slot allowing for up-and-down adjustability. The other end of the arc meets the underside of the bench-style white-colored hardwood chassis with another slot and wing nut attachment that allows the arc to be rotated forwards and back, effectively changing the degree of the backrest angle. While the aluminum backspring is functionally hard and heavy, it does provide a slight feeling of spring and is set in the chassis strongly enough to support the continuing stress of that spring force. At the base, stacked multi-ply feet visually tie the top pieces to the ground.
In all honesty, the resulting mass is surprising, too surprising for some. I believe its' weight is balanced by its' comfort and cool super-modern look.
A protective water-based clear coat finish highlights the natural color of the multi-ply and keeps the true white chassis white.
Twenty aluminum backsprings were fabricated: this is an extremely limited edition.
chair[dot]multi-ply
49 49 85 ( 19 x19 x 34" )
multi-ply and white pigmented hardwood, white powder-coated rolled aluminium 1/2 threaded rod, nuts, washers+ XL malleable iron wingnuts water-based clear-coat poly
2014
