Sitting Rethought

My latest adventure is working on a chair design for an Italian furniture maker, Lago, which I can't really talk about...but what I can talk about is a cool book I found while developing the chair for Lago. The book is titled Rethinking Sitting, and is written by Peter Opsvik. Opsvik is a famous Norwegian designer that created objects like this:

In the book he basically explores the notion of sitting as being somewhat unnatural for human beings as primates. We should be swinging in a tree or balancing on a branch that is swaying in the wind. Instead of this we have adopted very static chair designs that have us rigidly positioned for hours on end. Introducing the idea of multiple positions, flexibility, and balance makes chairs more enjoyable as we transform their static nature into something more dynamic.

The point that got through to me the most was when Opsvik was talking about the somewhat ingrained importance of constantly shifting our balance. Opsvik argues that you would never stand against a wall in one rigid position for extended periods, instead we shift our weight, shuffle our feet, and generally just wiggle. The lack of movement makes the rigid standing position against the wall unnatural and painful. Our muscles didn't evolve to be constrained, they were meant to be used, to be active and dynamic. Sitting still is against our human nature it would seem (kids never seem to sit still, do they?)...

So with this idea in mind I'm starting to think a little bit differently about sitting. Maybe there are other things we should be rethinking too...

Engineers.......

Last week I got the chance to give a lecture to a class I'm TAing at the University of Waterloo. The course is based around social design factors and is meant to be a course that helps expand the engineering students' perspective about the design process. Here's a link to my slides:

Craft, Design, and the Engineer

A little Nakashima, a little Lago, and some Sam Maloof for good measure...getting the opportunity to talk about these things was nice because it gave me a chance to think about how the design of something as simple as a chair can be really quite a complex thing. Some of the students really seemed to appreciate what I was talking about...that was really rewarding.

Lathes and Lago

So here's the great news: I'm going to Italy!!!!!!!

You see there's this cool Italian furniture designer Lago, and they've got a unique design workshop that they run every summer called Lagostudio. You send in a portfolio and if you're lucky enough to be selected you get to go design some things with nine other creative people from all over the world at the Lago mansion near Venice. I'm excited!!!!!!!!!!

In other good news my dad had dropped me off an old lathe a couple weeks ago. I finally got around to get it running and I'm looking forward to learn about wood turning

The first test project on the lathe was a small handle for a prototype piano tuner I'm working on. It turned out pretty well!

Innovation (ie doing something NEW)

It's probably a cliche to say, but it seems that innovation isn't that easy afterall. 

A chair is a fairly simple object. It's not a space shuttle, it's not a quantum computer, it's not a carbon nano-tube; it's just a chair. It's been rebuilt, modified, extended, reworked, cut, carved, bent, and molded...and after all of that it's still just a chair. 

Stephen Hogbin is an artist/woodworker with incredible skill and, more importantly, an incredible ability to innovate. In the 70's he decided that he wanted to try turning really big pieces of wood (like 76" in diameter big) because he believed that taking slices of these massive turnings would reveal cross sections of tremendous beauty.  At the time there was no way to turn a 7' piece of wood on a lathe, but with his father in law's help Hogbin pieced together a variable speed lathe to realize his vision using the differential and rear axle from a truck. 

Hogbin's work is valuable because it's both beautiful and inspirational. It may seem simple, but what Hogbin did in creating his truck axle lathe is what innovation requires: a vision and the tools required to realize that vision. If the tools don't exist you just have to go out there and create them yourself...

Here's a link to his website where you check out some of his work:

http://www.makersgallery.com/hogbin/

I know it's just a chair, but to me it's more than that. To me it's an example of what it takes to create something that is truly NEW...and you know what, to me innovation is a beautiful thing.

MB