Zene Primêre Funksje: Ytstoel by John G Williams is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2018 A' Design Award yn Izer in Meubelûntwerp Competition Category.
IzerMeubels· 2018
Zene Primêre Funksje: Ytstoel
Client: John G Williams
A' Design Award yn Izer Winner in Meubels Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #58495The Design
About Zene Primêre Funksje: Ytstoel
Boektekst: De Zene-ytstoel lit him ynspirearje troch ynheems hout en Deenske Modern-ûntwerp. De ljochte esken frames binne ienfâldich en robúst en stypje sitplakken en rêchlienings fan hurdhout dy't op it frame lykje te sweevjen. De bôge foarmen fan it sit/rêchliening wurde net foarme troch it hout te bûgen, mar troch it gearfoegjen en fasoenearjen fan massyf hurdhout. As searje soargje de ljochte esken frames foar gearhing, en ferskillende pleatslike materialen dy't foar de sitplakken/rêchlienings keazen binne, jouwe belang en relevânsje.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award yn Izer
Zene Primêre Funksje: Ytstoel is in winner fan de A' Design Award yn Izer, in prestisjeuze erkenning foar goede ûntwerpen dy't foldogge oan de profesjonele en yndustriële easken dy't ferwachte wurde fan goed ûntwurpen skeppings. Izerwinners litte grutte feardigens, hege spesjalisaasje, deskundich begryp en kreatyf fermogen fan har makkers sjen. Fan Zene Primêre Funksje: Ytstoel wurdt ferwachte dat it in tige heech achte, bewûndere en dierbere skepping is dy't praktysk en ynnovatyf is. Dit winnende ûntwerp fan de A' Design Award yn Izer yntegrearret de bêste praktiken fan de sektor en hat feardige technyske skaaimerken ferbûn mei kennis en talint. Zene Primêre Funksje: Ytstoel wurdt respektearre foar syn yngeandens en is ûntwurpen om ferbetteringen fan de kwaliteit fan it libben te leverjen dy't helpe de wrâld ta in bettere plak te meitsjen.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- This series of dining chairs have American ash frames and showcase different hardwood timbers for the seat/backrest combinations.
The chairs draw on the ancient art of 'coopering' or how oak barrels are made for fermentation purposes. The curved forms of the seat/backrest are not formed by bending but rather by joining and shaping solid hardwood timber.
The chair strives to be very strong and beautiful. In short: Zene -
elegant, comfortable and dependable. - Dimensions & Packaging
- 515mm wide x 570mm deep x 890mm high
seat: 515mm wide x 390mm deep
back:515mm wide x 200mm high - Tags
- zene, dining chair, south africa, hardwood, curved, cooper, danish modern, minimalist
- Production Technology
- The Zene design evolved over a number of years. The starting point was probably a fascination with the art of coopering and how this has been applied to furniture design. Building the segmented seat and backrests took some practice to perfect, as did the development of custom modifications to standard workshop tools to shape and finish the smoothly shaped forms.
- Design Challenge
- Building the coopered seat/backrests was challenging as it required careful attention to the compression forces on the material and how best to achieve high compression without causing the seats to 'implode'.
Shaping the rough seats into finely finished and smooth curves required considerable re-working of the custom tooling to achieve the desired results - Research
- Danish modern designs were studied and absorbed to consider different ways of rendering the frame, and its relationship to the seat, and to think through the spatial relationship of the seat to the backrest.
Web search was used to think about typical dimensions for the seat but in the end prototyping proved most fun. - Inspiration
- The beauty grain and colour of indigenous African timber was a key aesthetic inspiration for this project. The more technical inspiration for the overall work, including the frame design came from iconic designers such as Hans J Wegner (for example the CH20 Elbow Chair). The coopering technique was inspired by Ontario furniture designer Adrian Ferrazzutti.
- Project Duration
- The first prototype was conceived in Johannesburg in 2007. It was slowly refined as background task over 10 years, and the first set of 6 chairs was produced in 2017
- Operation Flow
- Zene is designed mainly for use at the dining table and is designed for extended dining comfort.
- Patents
- no patents pending
- Team Members
- John G Williams: designer, craftsman
- Image Credits
- all images by the designer: John G Williams
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