Sun Lounge shines at FIND design Fair Asia

FIND Design Fair Asia is now a leading event in the design industry calendar for the region. One drawcard for the design community is DesignSingapore Council’s EMERGE showcase. For 2023, Suzy Annetta from Design Anthology returns as curator with the theme “CRAFT + INDUSTRY: MAN + MACHINE”. Jarrod Lim was invited by Annetta as one of 50 emerging and established designers from around the region to submit their work.

Lim says of the opportunity: “I was absolutely delighted to be invited to participate in the EMERGE showcase. I felt that my design philosophy truly aligned with the theme of Craft + Industry. Since the beginning of my career, I’ve always taken great inspiration from examining production and manufacturing processes and melding them with intuitive, human qualities to create my designs. The concepts and realisation of my designs have often been borne from the interaction between man and machine.”

Lim took the chance to explore the evolution of an iconic Southeast Asian design, the peacock chair. Inspired by the shape, Lim considered how to evoke the same effect in timber. “With the peacock chair, the base and backrest are quite separate” he says “I followed the idea of a box and backrest but wanted to look at how to better integrate it. It is not that difficult in terms of construction, but it is difficult to make it look balanced”.

Having trialled various options, Lim settled on a slatted design. “Originally, I planned to create a solid chair without slats but it just didn’t look right. It looked extremely top-heavy and intersection of the backrest and the base, aesthetically, didn’t work. By adding the slats and working with the grain of the wood I was able to ensure the lines of the backrest progress down through the seat, right to the base. These small decisions were deliberately made to ensure the aesthetic works”.

The chair was produced for outdoor use with thermally modified American red oak supplied by Omega Mas. The TMT process is essentially a high intensity kiln schedule that lasts between 3 to 4 days. The temperature reaches 180–215°C depending on the level of durability required. The process requires an inert atmosphere devoid of oxygen to prevent combustion, this is usually either steam or a vacuum. During the process, the chemical and physical properties of the timber undergo permanent change.
The two most beneficial effects of the TMT process are to dramatically improve the stability and also the durability of timber species.

After the process, the moisture content is lowered to around 4 – 6% and the equilibrium moisture content is permanently reduced which means that thermally modified timber is less affected by atmospheric changes in humidity, reducing the ability of the timber to absorb moisture, and so greatly improving its stability. The durability is improved by removing the hemicelluloses and carbohydrates from the wood which are the main food sources for wood-destroying fungi.

The Sun Lounge is built to endure the sun, heat and moisture of a Southeast Asian climate. “To me it looks like a sun rising” says Lim. The hair is on display as part of EMERGE @ FIND until 23 September 2023.