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Zene Kurisi Makan by John G Williams

Zene Kurisi Makan by John G Williams is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2018 A' Design Award Basi in Desain Parabot Competition Category.


BasiParabot· 2018

Zene Kurisi Makan

by John G Williams

Client: John G Williams

A' Design Award Basi Winner in Parabot Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #58495

Colors

The Design

About Zene Kurisi Makan

Kurisi makan Zene mangambiak inspirasi dari kayu asli tampatan sarato desain Danish Modern. Rangko kayu ash nan ringan tampak sadarhano tapi kokoh, manopang tampek duduak jo sandaran pungguang dari kayu kareh nan bak ka malayang di ateh rangko. Bantuak malengkuang dari tampek duduak sarato sandaran pungguang indak dibuek jo mambengkokkan kayu, tapi jo mancantumkan sarato mambantuak kayu kareh nan padek. Sabagai suatu rangkaian, rangko kayu ash nan ringan mambari kasatuan, sadangkan babagai bahan tampatan nan dipiliah untuak tampek duduak/sandaran pungguang mahasilkan daya tarik sarato relevansi.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Basi

Zene Kurisi Makan adolah pamenang A' Design Award Basi, sabuah pangakuan nan bapresti nan dibarikan ka rancangan nan elok nan mamanuhi kaparluan profesional jo industri nan dipaokan dari ciptaan nan dirancang jo elok. Pamenang Basi mamparlihatkan kamahiran nan gadang, spesialisasi nan tinggi, pamahaman pakar jo kapasitas kreatif panciptanyo. Zene Kurisi Makan dipaokan manjadi ciptaan nan sangaik dihormati, dikagumi jo disayangi, nan praktis jo inovatif. Rancangan nan manang Basi iko mamasukkan praktik tabaik industri jo punyo ciri teknis nan cakap nan bapautan jo ilimu jo bakaik. Zene Kurisi Makan dihormati karano katalitiannyo jo dirancang untuak maningkekkan kualitas hiduik jo mambantu manjadikan dunia tampek nan labiah elok.

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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