Ollie O'Rourke, Formé (Student)

Denmark has led the way in modern twentieth century furniture design, producing beautiful works, executed by renowned craftsmen. Danish innovations with the chair, represent many highly pleasing accords between function, comfort and style. These Danish works of art are one of several examples that have influenced and inspired me into designing a simplistic danish chair for my HSC Major Project. I created a quality chair that emphasises the simple danish style as seen in a wide range of high end quality furniture. I admired the ribbon styled chairs that have been floating around at the moment, including Sean Deane’s 2019 HSC major project, the ‘Flow Chair’. Furthermore, as a surfer myself I find myself immersed in the flow of the ocean constantly which inspired me to create a constant flowing piece in both form and function. I managed to create a piece of furniture, unique in design and incorporating this ribbon inspiration. This concept was explored in options of twisting timber to form the major components of the legs and backrest. The project contained a wide range of skills and techniques requiring research to be conducted into the optimal way to go about each process from design through to finished product. The ergonomics of the chair were considered throughout the whole process of the chair but especially in the design process through the use of Anthropometric data that needed to be researched and then utilised in the development of the design. During prototyping phase full scale mock ups to test the design, comfort and ergonomics were used to ensure the end result functioned as intended. Anthropometric data played a pivotal role in the prototyping phase as measurements of the 50th percentile were referred to when producing the prototype as it assisted in the ergonomics. To ensure the twist in my chair is of a high quality large amounts of timber bending techniques were researched such as coopering, laminating and steam bending. The bending techniques used then influenced my choice of timber as sharp bends were possibly restriction on the use of some timbers. To ensure the aesthetics of my project were high end possible upholstery options were utilised with Danish cord and leather upholstery types enhancing the overall comfort and style of the chair. Compound angles and joinery were required to complete my design so suitable joinery fixings and adhesives were thoroughly explored to ensure the correct decisions were made in the selection of final processes. During the course of the project there were limiting factors that could potentially inhibit the overall outcome of the project. As the design of my chair is extremely complex, time was a main constraint combined with the fact of being a large learning curve. Learning a range of new skills while producing the project meant I was learning on the job, slowing the process down as I needed to test certain stages of the project to ensure I could achieve a high quality result. The project became costly at stages as prototyping and testing needed to be conducted many times with multiple 3D prints and tests. Photography - Alvin Theseira Teacher - Ben Percy School: NBSC Freshwater Senior Campus Weaving - Modanest Upholstery - Steal the Limelight

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