Zene Àga Ìjẹun by John G Williams is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2018 Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Irin A' Design Award in Àpẹẹrẹ Ohun-èlò Ilé Competition Category.
IrinOhun-èlò Ilé· 2018
Zene Àga Ìjẹun
Client: John G Williams
Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Irin A' Design Award Winner in Ohun-èlò Ilé Category
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Verify Award Status for #58495The Design
About Zene Àga Ìjẹun
Àga ìjẹun Zene gba ìmísí rẹ̀ láti inú igi abínibí àti apẹrẹ Danish Modern. Àwọn férémù igi ash fẹ́lẹ́fẹ́lẹ́ náà rọrùn tí wọ́n sì lágbára, wọ́n sì ń gbé àwọn ìjókòó àti ìtẹ̀gùn tí a fi igi líle ṣe tí ó dà bí ẹni pé wọ́n ń léfòó lórí férémù náà. Àwọn àpẹrẹ tí ó tẹ̀ ti ìjókòó/ìtẹ̀gùn kì í ṣe nípa lílu igi náà tẹ̀ bí kò ṣe nípa dídarapọ̀ àti sísọ igi líle tí ó lágbára di apẹrẹ. Gẹ́gẹ́ bí àkójọpọ̀, àwọn férémù igi ash fẹ́lẹ́fẹ́lẹ́ náà ń pèsè ìṣọ̀kan, àwọn ohun èlò àdúgbò ọ̀tọ̀ọ̀tọ̀ tí a yàn fún àwọn ìjókòó/ìtẹ̀gùn náà sì ń mú kí ìfẹ́ àti ìbámu wáyé.
The Recognition
About the Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Irin A' Design Award
Zene Àga Ìjẹun jẹ́ olùborí Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Irin A' Design Award, ìdánimọ̀ olókìkí tí a fún àwọn àwòṣe tó dára tí wọ́n pàdé àwọn ohun tí iṣẹ́ àti ilé-iṣẹ́ nílò tí a retí láti ọ̀dọ̀ àwọn ẹ̀dá tí a ṣàwòṣe dáradára. Àwọn olùborí Irin ń fi ìjáfáfá ńlá, ìmọ̀ pàtó gíga, òye ògbóǹtarìgì àti agbára ìṣẹ̀dá àwọn olùṣẹ̀dá wọn hàn. A retí pé Zene Àga Ìjẹun yóò jẹ́ ẹ̀dá tí a kà sí gidigidi, tí a gbóríyìn fún tí a sì nífẹ̀ẹ́, tó wúlò tó sì ní ìmúṣẹ̀dá tuntun. Àwòṣe tó borí Àmì-ẹ̀yẹ Irin A' Design Award yìí ń kó àwọn ọ̀nà tó dára jùlọ ilé-iṣẹ́ jọ, ó sì ní àwọn ànímọ́ ìmọ̀-ẹ̀rọ tó péye tí a so mọ́ ìmọ̀ ṣíṣe àti ẹ̀bùn. A bọ̀wọ̀ fún Zene Àga Ìjẹun nítorí ìfọ̀kànbalẹ̀ rẹ̀, a sì ṣàwòṣe rẹ̀ láti pèsè ìmúdára ìgbésí ayé tó ń ran ayé lọ́wọ́ láti di ibi tó dára jù.
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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