Tatamu El Taburete Plegable by Mate Meszaros and Hirotaka Mashiko

Tatamu El Taburete Plegable by Mate Meszaros and Hirotaka Mashiko is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2020 A' Design Award de Plata in Diseño de Mobiliario Competition Category.

PlataMobiliario· 2020

Tatamu El Taburete Plegable

by Mate Meszaros and Hirotaka Mashiko

Client: Tatamu

A' Design Award de Plata Winner in Mobiliario Category

43,546
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #100792

Visit Site View at A' Design Award Press Release Award Badge

Colors

The Design

About Tatamu El Taburete Plegable

Para el 2050, dos tercios de la población mundial vivirá en ciudades. La principal ambición detrás de Tatamu es proporcionar muebles flexibles para personas cuyo espacio es limitado, incluidos aquellos que se mueven con frecuencia. El objetivo es crear un mobiliario intuitivo que combine robustez con una forma ultradelgada. Solo se necesita un movimiento giratorio para desplegar el taburete. Si bien todas las bisagras están hechas de tela duradera que lo mantienen liviano, los lados de madera brindan estabilidad. Una vez que se le aplica presión, el taburete solo se vuelve más fuerte a medida que sus piezas se bloquean, gracias a su mecanismo y geometría únicos.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award de Plata

Tatamu El Taburete Plegable ha ganado el A' Design Award de Plata, un reconocimiento extraordinariamente prestigioso concedido a diseños de gama alta, magníficos e impresionantes. Los ganadores de Plata son obras tremendamente brillantes y sumamente creativas que ilustran la destacada experiencia, el talento y la agudeza de sus diseñadores. Se espera que Tatamu El Taburete Plegable sea una obra maravillosa y emblemática, notablemente profesional y profundamente innovadora. Este diseño ganador del A' Design Award de Plata es una invención muy notable y admirada que beneficia y hace avanzar las fronteras del arte, la ciencia, el diseño y la tecnología. Tatamu El Taburete Plegable es una creación enormemente envidiada que evoca deseos, aporta sentimientos positivos y despierta asombro y admiración.

Behind the Design

Press Kit

Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.

Unique Properties: When we started designing the Tatamu stool, we aimed to create furniture that combines robustness with an ultra-thin and lightweight material, while being intuitive to use. It takes only one twisting movement to deploy the chair. We wanted to keep the design as simple as possible, so there are only two materials: wood and fabric. The hinges made of specially manufactured durable fabric keep it light weight, while the wooden origami faces provide stability. Once pressure is applied to it, the stool only gets stronger as the faces lock in together in perfect mechanical balance.
Dimensions & Packaging: Weighing less than seven kilograms, the stool is easily transportable. In folded form, its thickness is 4cm, making it possible to stack several of them in extremely narrow spaces and niches, or hang them flat on a wall. When unfolded, Tatamu reaches its optimal seating height of 43cm. It can be stored and shipped in a flat-pack with the dimensions of 700mm x 700mm x 50mm.
Tags: furniture, foldable furniture, flexible furniture, furniture design, design, interior design, flexible
Production Technology: All Tatamu Stools are made in a traditional Japanese furniture workshop. Every single piece is hand built by dedicated craftsmen from start until finish, paying utmost attention to detail. All of the plywood and fabric pieces are first cut by CNC and laminated together in a hydraulic press, assuring that all parts have the perfectly shaped, and interlocked with precision. Since the chair design is based on elemental geometry, we can optimize quality control and keep production costs low.
Design Challenge: The greatest challenge throughout the design and research process, was to find a balance between structural strength and foldability. Modelling the mechanism of the chair in 3D has limited capabilities, so we had to work closely with the manufacturer in order to reach the desired result. After many detail tests and five distinct functional prototypes, we could manage to make the foldable stool easily operable, while retaining its strength.
Research: We used Grasshopper to simulate the working mechanism of the stool; the main load bearing axes have to work as hinges as well, so our research objective was to determine how to reach a stable state while retaining flexibility. We worked closely with our manufacturer, creating tests and prototypes. The Tatamu Stool is using unique solutions in its details, these joints can be used in the future for later designs. The folded form of the chair is getting more stable as more pressure is applied to it, so we would like to investigate the usage of this mechanism in construction technologies, as well.
Inspiration: Small apartments, narrow offices, tiny shops; urban space is a vanishing, precious commodity. By 2050 two thirds of the earth’s population will live in cities. We have to fit increasingly more activities in a shrinking physical space. The main inspiration behind Tatamu are mobile and creative people like us, whose ideas are bigger than their room. We also found that moving in and out of tiny city apartments often involves the disposal of old furniture, since transportation is very costly; we need light, deployable, reusable furniture that is a joy to use.
Project Duration: The design of the Tatamu Stool started in June 2019 with paper models and 3d modelling and we finalized the last prototype in January 2020. The furniture was designed entirely in Tokyo, Japan.
Operation Flow: Invite the whole gang over for dinner, board games or just a talk, without being limited by your space. Unfold some stools, and no one needs to be left out. TATAMU will fold down to fit anywhere, and its triangular shape allows it to fit even in the narrowest of apartment arrangements when deployed. When relocating, TATAMU moves with you; reducing the cost, time and stress of moving out. Over 258 million tons of furniture end up in landfills every year, only in the United States.
Team Members: Mate Attila Meszaros, Hirotaka Mashiko