Cantilever Chair Extreme Prototype #1
Mild Cold Steel Tubular, Leather, Para cord Strings, Brass Rings
56" L X 30.5" W X 67" H
November - December 2018
How do you define extreme? Do you define it as something unexpected? Unknown? New? I would argue that extreme is taking something to its breaking point, but does not break.
Many people often create the illusion of what is only possible and often try not to seek the unknown. Even when they hear the news of something remarkable or world changing to their own beliefs it is only when it is put into practice that such news have weight behind them.
In Furniture, there have been a number of remarkable changes to the industry as new materials become more accessible to the public. One such design is the cantilever chairs in which the subject is floating usually built with tubular steel. Many chairs of this type have been purposely overbuilt in order to secure confidence with the user.
Yet there has been a single chair that does not follow this at least, in concept. The “B5 Chair” (1980) by Steffan Wewerka is a commercial chair that can be bought for ~$650. This chair has been known to be the most extreme form of this type of chair. As it is only built out of a single tube bent in the shape of a chair. I question whether a chair such as this can be called extreme if it can be bought commercially. In fact, what is making it so extreme in the first place, the fact that it only used a single piece of tube? Or the fact that it is commercial.
Fore me, Commercial and extremes are two things that really do not go hand to hand. By calling it extreme declares that it is to the absolute limits of the material. This usually makes people nervous around such objects due to the precarious nature of being the extreme. This chair has almost none of that by being made in the 1980s there is at least 50 years of research that has been done on this type of chair. This means that it could have been taken many steps further. Yet due to it being a commercial item it only stops halfway and not really focusing on the material’s capacity.
So I began to wonder what is the limits of this type of chair using tubular steel. As far as I could find there really isn’t one. As it is deemed unsafe to the general public. While there is physics, as an example, that could tell you the solution to this problem. Many people cannot understand numbers as a concept and so it is only when it is shown by example that it can be understood.
Like all things, the first question to really ask is what is a cantilever chair. For the most
part it simply is a “chair” that is not really a definition of a chair. As this chair usually only has a single leg that connects it to the ground. The most important aspect of it is that it allows the user to “float” in the air. So what if we take that concept of “floating” even further and have the user really float in the air only being supported by this structure. There will not be any supports other than pre existing types of cantilever chairs. What is to be understood is that the dimensions will change, but the shape remains the same. This structure is not meant to look like it can support the weight, but can support the weight. The reason for this is that if you build it as a normal designer you cannot test the extremes as you need a sense of connections and flows. Extremes, on the other hand, have no flow and can be chaotic in nature which is why many avoid it. To make this object I would basically be doing a lot of material exploration to showcase what worked and what didn’t work. This is by means of height, the depth of the tubular steel and even length of the steel tubing. This is then tested by having me seat or use the chair in an aggressive
manner to see whether or not the material will hold. Depending on said results, I would either reduce, add, or replace the material in the attempt to make it extreme.
part it simply is a “chair” that is not really a definition of a chair. As this chair usually only has a single leg that connects it to the ground. The most important aspect of it is that it allows the user to “float” in the air. So what if we take that concept of “floating” even further and have the user really float in the air only being supported by this structure. There will not be any supports other than pre existing types of cantilever chairs. What is to be understood is that the dimensions will change, but the shape remains the same. This structure is not meant to look like it can support the weight, but can support the weight. The reason for this is that if you build it as a normal designer you cannot test the extremes as you need a sense of connections and flows. Extremes, on the other hand, have no flow and can be chaotic in nature which is why many avoid it. To make this object I would basically be doing a lot of material exploration to showcase what worked and what didn’t work. This is by means of height, the depth of the tubular steel and even length of the steel tubing. This is then tested by having me seat or use the chair in an aggressive
manner to see whether or not the material will hold. Depending on said results, I would either reduce, add, or replace the material in the attempt to make it extreme.
Steffan Wewerka is the first to bring in the idea of the extreme cantilever chair, but
Cantilever Chairs have existed for over 90 years and there are many different types of
exploration, but the start of it all was using a steel tubing to make the chair. This project neither supports or challenge the precedent in the making of cantilever chair, but the idea of what is extreme. By setting Seffan Wewerka as the extreme it shows a lack of understanding of what it really means to be extreme. As the extreme is not a design challenge but an illusion to ourselves of what can be done. An extreme is not meant to break the system but to show that it can still work under such circumstances. Many of the research is done online, at the library to expose myself to different types as well as the extremes.
Cantilever Chairs have existed for over 90 years and there are many different types of
exploration, but the start of it all was using a steel tubing to make the chair. This project neither supports or challenge the precedent in the making of cantilever chair, but the idea of what is extreme. By setting Seffan Wewerka as the extreme it shows a lack of understanding of what it really means to be extreme. As the extreme is not a design challenge but an illusion to ourselves of what can be done. An extreme is not meant to break the system but to show that it can still work under such circumstances. Many of the research is done online, at the library to expose myself to different types as well as the extremes.
This chair in the path of the extreme, should not have people the desire to really sit on it
on the first glance. In fact, they really should be asking themselves is it really doable, This
hesitation is something that I seek as it is part of being extreme. Yet the most important aspect of this chair is not to break. It has to function as a chair and that means that it must have the strength to hold, but at the same time question us on whether it can really hold. As our perception is nothing, but an illusion to our beliefs and understanding to the world. Metal is an incredibly strong object, yet we consistently overbuild objects using this material in order to counter the unpredicted which leads many to believe that the type of structure required is the over built one. This concept cannot be broken by math or physics if they have no desire to learn about it. It can only be taken down by example.
on the first glance. In fact, they really should be asking themselves is it really doable, This
hesitation is something that I seek as it is part of being extreme. Yet the most important aspect of this chair is not to break. It has to function as a chair and that means that it must have the strength to hold, but at the same time question us on whether it can really hold. As our perception is nothing, but an illusion to our beliefs and understanding to the world. Metal is an incredibly strong object, yet we consistently overbuild objects using this material in order to counter the unpredicted which leads many to believe that the type of structure required is the over built one. This concept cannot be broken by math or physics if they have no desire to learn about it. It can only be taken down by example.
Mark 1
I wanted to make it as high as I could within the space I was given and 7 feet was remarkably tall and was the start of my trials.
One grave mistake that I realized as I began to lift my self up was that I make this chair incredibly bendy and flexible. Much more than I originally thought it would be. In fact the more I try to get myself off the ground the more closer I became. This lead me to try and find a shorter balance between the two.
Version 2
Here the bend was not as much but it was still strong and stable much more than previously.
Version 3
