Jonathan Nieh · CLIENT: Niehworks
Modern Chinese is an armchair intended for seating and also suitable for display as an art piece. The form borrows from the traditional Chinese armchair and from Marcel Breuer's No. B33 chair. CNC processing shapes plywood and solid walnut into a fluid and seamless outline, replacing the angular parts and woodworking joints of traditional construction. The structure and the strength of the wood were calculated to support body weight. A metal tube frame was studied first, but wood was chosen for its warmer appearance.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The overall concept is to borrow the shape of traditoinal Chinese armchair and fused with current technology and material such as CNC processing and plywood to create a modern and organic looking Chinese style furniture.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Width 765mm x Depth 650mm x Height 800mm
Seat Height 420mm - Tags
- chair, furniture, minimalism, simplicity, creative, oriental, Chinese, design, artistic, beautiful
- Production Technology
- CNC Processing,
Plywood, solid wood(walnut) - Design Challenge
- The most challenging part of this chair concept is to design proper structure and calculate wood strength enable to support people's weight. The original idea was to use metal tube and bending technique to create the chair structure, but the finish appearance looks too cold and contemporary, therefore, the material was switched from metal back to wood.
- Project Duration
- The project started in March 2021 in Taipei, Taiwan and minor changes are undergoing
- Operation Flow
- Modern Chinese Armchair is mainly for sitting purpose but can also be viewed as piece of art work.
- Research
- For this project the idea/design was just pop into my head when I was reading a book called "Encyclopedia of China Traditional Furniture Making and Appreciation" Therefore, it is difficult to position this chair as a design piece or an art work.
- Inspiration
- Modern Chinese Armchair was inspired by traditional Chinese armchair and Marcel Breuer's No. B33 chair design. The original motive was not to simplified a traditional Chinese armchair into a modern looking one, but to borrowed the design from the past and infused with present technology and material to expand a new style of Chinese furniture.
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