Bronze Furniture Design · 2024
Caterpillar Bar Unit
by Priyam Doshi
- A' Design Award 2024 Bronze Winner in Furniture Design
- Awarded April 15, 2024
- CLIENT: Name Place Animal Thing
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 15,136
- Verification code A73ED0A84B · Verify this award
About Caterpillar Bar Unit
The caterpillar stands innocently in the room until you give it a spin to reveal its mischievous charm. It acts as a sculptural piece with a hidden bar. What’s your hidden treasure? The Caterpillar is meticulously handcrafted using white ash wood and is finished with an Italian water based matte coating that highlights its curves and quirky presence. The legs of the caterpillar act as knobs, which are used to revolve the bar. The bar segments are precisely engineered for flawless turning when given a spin. The caterpillar has provisions to stock 30 to 40 bottles, wine, and other glasses.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- The caterpillar bar unit is a statement piece of furniture that is not only fun but also functional. The sculptural looking piece can actually be turned to reveal a hidden bar unit, which astonishes everyone as no one expects it. The Caterpillar is meticulously handcrafted and precisely engineered for flawless turning of the bar segments. The legs of the caterpillar act as knobs, which are used to revolve the bar. The caterpillar has provisions to stock 30 to 40 bottles, wine, and other glasses
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Size
Width 615 mm x Depth 615 mm x Height 1665 mm
Material White Ashwood and brass finished spherical handles
Finish Italian water based matt finish - Tags
- Bar furniture, Bar cabinet, Bar unit, Statement furniture, Wood furniture, Luxury furniture, Artsy furniture
- Production Technology
- The Caterpillar bar unit is handmade by carpenters in a factory forming, carving and cutting and joining white ash wood using carpentry techiniques. Finish is Italian Water Based Matte Finish.
- Design Challenge
- The creative challenge was to not only break away from the stereotypical shape of boxy bar units but also to make the bar unit highly functional. The trial and error of steam bending white ash wood was the hardest and most challenging part, which was not very successful in the first piece, but we are working on it to make it successful. Also, joining and finishing the wood pieces together to make the circular modules.
- Project Duration
- The Project Started in November 2022 & Finished in November 2022 and was exhibited at Raw Collaborative 5th Edition in India. (An exhibition)
- Operation Flow
- The Caterpillar bar unit stands tall as a sculptural bar unit, which, when turned using the knobs, reveals itself as a bar unit to start the party with an element of surprise. The caterpillar unit consists of 4 modules, out of which the top two modules turn together and the bottom two turn together. The top module has provisions for hanging wine glasses and also for keeping other drinking glasses. Wine bottles can be placed horizontally in the third module of the caterpillar bar.
- Research
- The online and offline research study was conducted on furniture marketplaces and physical stores to understand if there were any multifunctional cabinets available in the market. Visual data was collected via websites and by taking pictures of products in retail stores and homes within the personal network. One of the insights was that there were hardly any bar cabinets that were statement pieces or unique while also being highly functional. That served as our starting point to create a statement furniture piece that is also good with functionality.
- Inspiration
- The inspiration was to add fun to the boring mundane objects around us. The form is inspired by a caterpillar. Also, there are few products in the market that are statement furniture pieces but also offer good functionality. That was the starting point. The Caterpillar bar is designed to be a FUNctional piece, fun yet highly functional. The idea was also to add an element of surprise, as people will not anticipate that such a sculptural piece would actually turn out to be a bar unit
- Image Credits
- Image #1: Creator Priyam Doshi, Photographer Isha Shah
Image #2: Creator Priyam Doshi, Photographer Isha Shah
Image #3: Creator Priyam Doshi, Photographer Isha Shah
Image #4: Creator Priyam Doshi, Photographer Isha Shah
Image #5: Creator Priyam Doshi, Photographer Isha Shah
Video Credits: Priyanka Itadkar. - Patents
- © 2022, Name Place Animal Thing. All rights reserved.
Colors of Caterpillar Bar Unit
Design Interview about Caterpillar Bar Unit
The idea was to design a quirky and fun product The inspiration for the design was a caterpillar.
The idea was to create a "fun-ctional" product—a statement piece of furniture that is fun yet highly functional.
The future plan is to sell the design internationally.
It took me about a week to complete the design. Research, development, and production took about 4-6 weeks.
After designing hundreds of products for various clients, I finally had the opportunity to choose my own brief and inspiration. I decided to embrace my natural style of creating quirky products.
I am open to all opportunities.
Grand Interview about Caterpillar Bar Unit
I won’t lie, it was tough! Initially, we tried steam bending wood for the caterpillar modules, but it didn’t yield consistent results, so we pivoted to barrel-making techniques for better precision. The rotating mechanism was another challenge—finding the right hardware, ensuring smooth operation, and designing for easy maintenance took extensive research and testing. Balancing creativity, functionality, and durability made this piece a rewarding challenge.
My natural style is being playful with designs. Whenever I design the intent is to built product which generate curiosity/ intrigue and an element of play. I always want the user to have a sense of joy and fun when using th e product. I wanted to break the boundaries and design something which Fun yet super functional. That let to taking inspiration from nature
My natural design style leans toward being playful and creating products that spark curiosity and intrigue. I always aim to bring a sense of joy and fun to the user experience. With the Caterpillar Bar Unit, I wanted to break away from the predictable, boxy aesthetics of traditional bar furniture and create something that was not only functional but also brought a smile to people's faces. Drawing inspiration from nature's organic forms allowed me to design something that feels alive, playful, and full of character.
As a designer with an engineering background, balancing functionality with beautiful forms comes almost intuitively. For the Caterpillar Bar Unit, I started by measuring the tallest bottle that might be stored and used that as a baseline to determine the height of each module. The module sizes were carefully designed to be sleek yet spacious enough to hold 30-40 bottles. This approach allowed us to maintain the sculptural integrity of the design while ensuring it was practical and functional.
I always start by addressing the needs, problems, or desires that a user might have for a product serving a particular function. With the Caterpillar Bar Unit, the goal was to create something that fulfilled the functional requirements of a bar while doubling as a striking statement piece. Asking the right questions—what would make a bar unit more engaging, how to integrate storage without compromising its sculptural identity—naturally guided the design. From there, it was about finding creative ways to seamlessly implement functionality into the form.
The configuration of four distinct modules working in synchronized pairs was a result of a systematic design process. It began with determining the perfect height for a bar to ensure usability and comfort. Next, I calculated the optimal height for storing alcohol bottles, which led to dividing the unit into four modules. This balance was critical—adding more modules would have made it challenging for an average-height user to interact with the bar effectively. The configuration not only maximizes storage but also enhances the user experience by keeping everything easily accessible and intuitive.
It was quite intuitive, really. The Caterpillar Bar Unit needed legs, and the rotating modules required knobs. Combining the two functions felt like a natural solution, both clever and efficient. This integration not only maintains the sleek, cohesive design but also adds an element of surprise, blending form and function seamlessly.
The Caterpillar Bar Unit challenges traditional furniture design by blending playfulness with high functionality, and I believe it sets a precedent for more dynamic, user-centric pieces. Its success shows a growing demand for multifunctional furniture that’s not just practical but also sparks joy, and I hope it inspires designers to push boundaries and rethink how furniture can engage and delight users.
It was learning process as we were steam bending wood for the first time. We realised that thicker plank slices cannot be used for steam bending, it developed cracks. We are still doing a lot of explorations to get the steam bending right. we will be able to incorporate it in the best possible way, once we get the a perfect steam bending process.
The steam bending process was a valuable learning experience, especially since it was our first time working with it. We quickly realized that thicker plank slices couldn’t be used for steam bending as they developed cracks. This challenge led us to reassess our approach, and we’re still exploring ways to perfect the technique. Once we have the ideal steam bending process, we plan to incorporate it in the best possible way, but for now, it pushed us to think creatively and adapt the design while maintaining its integrity.