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Zene Kerusi Makan by John G Williams

Zene Kerusi Makan by John G Williams is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2018 A' Design Award Besi in Reka Bentuk Perabot Competition Category.


BesiPerabot· 2018

Zene Kerusi Makan

by John G Williams

Client: John G Williams

A' Design Award Besi Winner in Perabot Category

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Verified Award Winner

Verify Award Status for #58495

Colors

The Design

About Zene Kerusi Makan

Kerusi makan Zene mengambil inspirasi daripada kayu tempatan dan reka bentuk Danish Modern. Rangka kayu ash yang ringan adalah ringkas dan kukuh serta menyokong tempat duduk dan sandaran belakang kayu keras yang kelihatan terapung pada rangka. Bentuk melengkung tempat duduk/sandaran belakang tidak dibentuk dengan membengkokkan kayu tetapi sebaliknya dengan mencantum dan membentuk kayu keras pejal. Sebagai satu siri, rangka kayu ash yang ringan memberikan keharmonian, dan bahan tempatan berbeza yang dipilih untuk tempat duduk/sandaran belakang menjana daya tarikan dan kaitan.

The Recognition

About the A' Design Award Besi

Zene Kerusi Makan ialah pemenang A' Design Award Besi, pengiktirafan yang berprestij yang dianugerahkan kepada reka bentuk yang baik yang memenuhi keperluan profesional dan industri yang dijangka daripada ciptaan yang direka dengan baik. Pemenang Besi menunjukkan kemahiran yang besar, kepakaran yang tinggi, kefahaman pakar dan keupayaan kreatif penciptanya. Zene Kerusi Makan diharapkan menjadi ciptaan yang sangat dihargai, dikagumi dan disayangi yang praktikal dan inovatif. Reka bentuk pemenang A' Design Award Besi ini menyepadukan amalan terbaik industri dan mempunyai ciri teknikal yang kompeten yang dikaitkan dengan kepakaran dan bakat. Zene Kerusi Makan dihormati kerana ketelitiannya dan direka untuk memberikan peningkatan kualiti hidup yang membantu menjadikan dunia tempat yang lebih baik.

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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