batikk's design blog

communication specialist & design lover. passionate about chairs, germany, social media, espresso, italo disco and 1930s architecture, to name but a few.

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Obox Signature Series

egel.

Het Britse paviljoen op de wereldexpo in Shanghai ziet er uit als een gigantische zee-egel. Op het gebouw staan 60000 transparante 'stekels', waar zaden in zitten uit de Millenium Seed Bank in de UK. Natuurlijk is het showarchitectuur, maar is show verkopen niet net wat dit soort paviljoenen moeten doen? 
 

no screws, just glue.

Stefan Diez is one of my favorite living designers. I was already charmed by his work at Thonet, but his chairs for German company e15 are even more innovative. The Houdini chair is radically different from other wooden designs. It uses 4mm thin oak-veneered plywood. The technique used in this chair is also used in aeroplane model making. Two-dimensional plywood slabs are stretched by hand around a milled solid wood ring. The slabs form the back and are also part of the seat. No nails or screws are used, just glue to keep the parts together.

The shape may remind one of the Eames' plastic shell chairs, but the process is quite revolutionary. In the pictures below you see how it is done. Not surprisingly, the chair won the Red Dot 'Best of the best' award.

E15 will present new items in the Houdini chair family at the Salone del Mobile in Milan. I'm curious!

(pics from the e15 website)

 

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