Flow Cathedra by Mattice Boets is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Praemium A' Design Award Aeneum in Designatio Supellectilis Competition Category.
AesSupellex· 2022
Flow Cathedra
Client: Mattice Boets
Praemium A' Design Award Aeneum Winner in Supellex Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #139874The Design
About Flow Cathedra
Sella est fluxus aquarum profluvio afflatus. Consilium nudum saxum incepit, forma simplicissima cathedrae. Tunc venit aqua, fluens circa saxum et hominem sedentem. Commercium est inter petram et aquam quae hoc consilium fecit. Consequens est cathedra perfecte formata circa corpus humanum. Consilium plane singulare est ab omni angulo. Quodammodo, pars tua contulerit. Consilium Fluxus cum suo caerulo colore coniunctam narrat quomodo semel factum est.
The Recognition
About the Praemium A' Design Award Aeneum
Flow Cathedra victor est Praemii A' Design Award Aeneum, honoris multum aestimati formis egregiis, creandi ingenio, sollertia et acumine insignibus dati. Victores Aenei opera perita et mire creandi sunt, quae experientiam, imaginationem et solertiam auctorum suorum confirmant. Exspectatur Flow Cathedra rem multum aestimatam, admiratam et carissimam, notabiliter professionalem et novam fore. Haec forma Aeneo victa optimas consuetudines artis, scientiae, formandi rationis et technologiae amplectitur et in cura minutiarum excellit. Flow Cathedra necessitates egregie explet, cupiditates tangit, sensus capit et curiositatem allicit.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Flow is an armchair inspired by the flow of water. It’s a design that captures a static image of water flowing over rocks, two different elements that while in motion form one coherent entity and shape themselves around whatever crosses its path. It is as if the person sitting on the armchair were a rock, while the water flows around the person’s body. This creates a design that perfectly fits around the human body while being entirely unique from every angle.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- The armchair has a seating height of 46 cm measured at its highest point. It is 57 cm wide, 62 cm deep and 70 cm tall.
- Tags
- Flow, armchair, chair, Mattice, Boets, design, water, blue, rock, furniture
- Production Technology
- Flow consists of a steel inner frame that is pressed and then welded together. The chair is split up into multiple pieces which are then slid into the frame and attached. This creates a strong and durable construction. Foam in variable densities is used throughout the chair providing support where needed.
- Design Challenge
- During the development of the armchair, a prototype of hard foam was made. To speed up the development cycle, I made the prototype myself by sculpting a large block of foam by hand. Although I attempted to use section references, its organic design was too complex to be of any help. As a last resort, I sculpted the block of foam by eye with little to no tools. The prototype turned out great, but it was by far the most challenging aspect of realizing this project in time.
- Research
- The idea of Flow sparked during a walk near a local river. I find it interesting to look at things and wonder what they could become. From the flow of water, the interaction of plants and their environment to the way in which organisms grow. Although its relevance in the world of design is often overlooked since it doesn’t necessarily provide any immediate practical benefit, it does allow us to tell a story not in words but in physical matter.
- Inspiration
- Inspired by one of the oldest and most recognizable elements of nature, water and stone. Its shape creates a sense of familiarity and trust on an instinctive level, yet its form is unlike anything else. The design started as a bare rock, the simplest form of a chair. Then the water came, flowing all around the rock and the person. It is the interaction between this simple rock and the water that created this design.
- Project Duration
- The project started in October of 2019 in Kortrijk, Belgium and was finalized in January of 2020.
- Operation Flow
- The armrests in combination with the slightly reclined seating area provide a comfortable and relaxed position. When sitting, the inner foam adapts slightly while the back provides sufficient support. In a way, the armchair becomes part of you. Its deep blue color of water reminds us of how the design came to be.
- Patents
- Copyrights belong to Mattice Boets, 2020.
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