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Zene Ēdamistabas krēsls by John G Williams

Zene Ēdamistabas krēsls by John G Williams is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2018 Dzelzs balva A' Design Award in Mēbeļu dizains Competition Category.


DzelzsMēbeles· 2018

Zene Ēdamistabas krēsls

by John G Williams

Client: John G Williams

Dzelzs balva A' Design Award Winner in Mēbeles Category

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Verified Award Winner

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Colors

The Design

About Zene Ēdamistabas krēsls

Ēdamistabas krēsls "Zene" savu iedvesmu smeļas no vietējiem kokmateriāliem un dāņu modernā dizaina. Vieglie oša rāmji ir vienkārši un izturīgi, un tie balsta cietkoka sēdvirsmas un atzveltnes, kas šķiet lidojam virs rāmja. Sēdvirsmas un atzveltnes izliektās formas nav radītas, locot koku, bet gan savienojot un veidojot masīvu cietkoka materiālu. Kā sērija vieglie oša rāmji nodrošina saliedētību, savukārt sēdvirsmām un atzveltnēm izraudzītie dažādie vietējie materiāli rada interesi un aktualitāti.

The Recognition

About the Dzelzs balva A' Design Award

Zene Ēdamistabas krēsls ir Dzelzs balvas A' Design Award ieguvējs, prestiža atzinība, ko piešķir labiem dizainiem, kas atbilst profesionālajām un rūpnieciskajām prasībām, kādas sagaidāmas no labi izstrādātiem darbiem. Dzelzs ieguvēji parāda to radītāju lielo prasmi, augsto specializāciju, ekspertu izpratni un radošo spēju. Sagaidāms, ka Zene Ēdamistabas krēsls būs augsti vērtēts, apbrīnots un cienīts darbs, praktisks un inovatīvs. Šis ar Dzelzs balvu apbalvotais dizains integrē nozares labāko praksi un tam ir kompetentas tehniskās īpašības, kas saistītas ar zinātību un talantu. Zene Ēdamistabas krēsls tiek cienīts par rūpību un ir izstrādāts, lai uzlabotu dzīves kvalitāti un palīdzētu padarīt pasauli labāku.

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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