Silver Furniture Design · 2014
Ydin Stool Stool
by Franck Divay
- A' Design Award 2014 Silver Winner in Furniture Design
- Awarded April 15, 2014
- CLIENT: Inoow Design
- Estimated Number of Design Views: 43,274
- Verification code 2D51EFFC9D · Verify this award
About Ydin Stool Stool
Ydin stool can be mounted by yourself, without using special tools, thanks to a simple interlocking system. The 4 identical feet are placed in no particular order and the concrete seat, acting as the keystone, keeps everything in place. Feet are made with scrap wood coming from a stairs manufacturer, easily machined using traditional woodworking techniques and finally oiled. The seat is simply moulded in a lasting fiber-reinforced UHP Concrete. Only 5 dissociable parts to be flat packed and ready to be shipped to final customers, is another sustainability argument.
Press Kit
- Unique Properties
- Ydin stool can be mounted without using special tools, thanks to a simple interlocking system. The 4 identical feet are placed in no particular order and the concrete seat, acting as the keystone, keeps everything in place. Easily machined feet are made with scrap wood coming from a stairs manufacturer and finally oiled. The seat is moulded in a lasting fiber-reinforced concrete. Only 5 dissociable parts to be flat packed and ready to be shipped, is another sustainability argument.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Product dimension : 310 x 310 x 440 mm
Product weight : 5,3 kg - Tags
- stool, furniture, wood, concrete, scandinavian, moulding, flatpack, interlocking, sustainable, seating,
- Production Technology
- For a good fitting assembly, the hole dimensions in the center of the seat had to be extremely precise. So the mould has been made by using a 3D printed model. Then, the concrete seat remains raw from mold release. Feet are made with traditional woodworking technique by using several jigs or machining setups. With only 1 kind of piece to be shaped, it gives a very good process optimization when you start to manufacture several units. Scrap wood is the only raw material used for making them.
- Design Challenge
- The biggest challenge has been the technical and formal assembly development. The positioning of the 4 wooden feet one to each other, first. And secondly, the base interlocking into the seat. While having to meet the production capacities of a craft workshop.
- Project Duration
- The stool development was spread over two years, but not as a full-time job. This is an internal project that came to life between the requests performed to several customers.
- Operation Flow
- With the fitting mounting system of the Ydin stool, the disadvantages of a furniture kit are deleted. No hardware need that requires the use of tools. Feet nesting is carried in an instinctive way without the need for a manual. The assembly principle is idealized in the middle of the seat and participates in the overall aesthetics of the piece of furniture.
- Research
- Project started with the desire to work with Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC), without knowing what kind of product was going to be obtained in the end. Soon, the choice to combine concrete with wood seemed to be the way not to get a single monobloc object that could just have been in molded plastic. Technical characteristics offered by this concrete, have allowed to develop an assembly principle that would not be possible to achieve with other materials, in a craftsmanship context.
- Inspiration
- The idea of a stool comes by experimenting with Ultra High Performance Concrete (UHPC) moulding possibilities. The final drawing of the furniture has been inspired by Scandinavian design culture.
Colors of Ydin Stool Stool
Design Interview about Ydin Stool Stool
The starting point for the Ydin stool creation was experimenting with the fiber-reinforced ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC). I wished to do something with this material, without really knowing what.
The main goal of this exploratory approach, was to understand the technical features offered by this material, for the realization of an aesthetic and functional element. The reproducing possibility of a single piece by molding, geometrically precise and both highly resistant without any external reinforcements addition, were the two strengths highlighted. The desire also not to make a simple cast in one piece, explains the wood appearance, which is a material I particularly appreciate.
As a designer and a woodworker craftsman, I have the chance to be able to make in the workshop, small series of my own designs. The Ydin stool is on sale on my own online shop and several copies have been sold worldwide. This award will serve as a reference point to further develop my business, which is still in its beginnings: canvass shops to sell my creations and solicit new companies to offer my designer's services. With this A 'Design Award, the Ydin stool became my business card.
From the experimental phase until the end of the development of the stool, it has elapsed two years. I did not have full-time worked on this project. It was like a recreation among other works in progress. At this time, I did not have a shop at my disposition and therefore not yet established the inoow design's manufacturing activity.
As I said just before, it was a personal project. A project in which I was seeing a lot of potential. I felt at one point, the need to create a piece that shows my skills in terms of design, development and manufacturing. That is why I see the Ydin stool Ydin as a three-dimensional business card.
For now, the stool is manufactured and distributed by myself and is part of the items collection for sale on the inoow design shop. Despite everything, I remain open to each opportunity about it.
I think my joinery initial training and this capacity to be able to manufacture furniture, naturally brings me to create objets in this predilection field.
This is a project that was directed entirely with independence in the inoow design studio. There is just had a concrete furniture manufacturer that has been approached, at a time, to make a mold for manufacturing the concrete seat. Finally, this one has also been designed and manufactured in the workshop.
What differs the Ydin stool from the furniture traditionally delivered in kit form, is that it can be mounted without using any tools or adding any hardware. In addition, the stool assembly and disassembly does not weaken it, unlike this kind of furniture using all sorts of screws.
The name Ydin given to the stool, is a Finnish word meaning the spinal, the core or refers to something essential. It perfectly illustrates the 4 feet meeting in the center of the seat.