Zene Isihlalo Sokudla by John G Williams is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2018 Umklomelo Wensimbi we-A' Design Award in Ukudizayina Ifenisha Competition Category.
InsimbiIfenisha· 2018
Zene Isihlalo Sokudla
Client: John G Williams
Umklomelo Wensimbi we-A' Design Award Winner in Ifenisha Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #58495The Design
About Zene Isihlalo Sokudla
Isihlalo sokudla i-Zene sithatha ugqozi lwaso emithini yendabuko kanye nomklamo we-Danish Modern. Izinhlaka ezikhanyayo ze-ash zilula futhi ziqinile futhi zisekela izihlalo zomuthi oqinile kanye nezisekeli zomhlane ezibonakala zintanta ohlakeni. Izimo ezigobile zesihlalo/isisekelo somhlane azakhiwa ngokugoba umuthi kodwa kunalokho ngokuhlanganisa nokubumba umuthi oqinile ophelele. Njengochungechunge izinhlaka ezikhanyayo ze-ash zihlinzeka ngokuhlangana, futhi izinto zendawo ezahlukene ezikhethelwe izihlalo/izisekeli zomhlane zidala intshisekelo nokufaneleka.
The Recognition
About the Umklomelo Wensimbi we-A' Design Award
Zene Isihlalo Sokudla iwinile uMklomelo Wensimbi we-A' Design Award, ukwaziswa okuhloniphekile okunikezwa imiklamo emihle ehlangabezana nezidingo zobungcweti nezemboni ezilindelekile ezimpahleni ezihlelwe kahle. Abawinile beNsimbi babonisa ikhono elikhulu, ubungcweti obuphezulu, ukuqonda kochwepheshe namandla okudala abadali babo. Zene Isihlalo Sokudla ilindeleke ukuba ibe yinto exatshwa kakhulu, edunyiswayo nethandwayo esebenzayo nenezinto ezintsha. Lo mklamo owinile uMklomelo Wensimbi we-A' Design Award uhlanganisa izindlela ezinhle kakhulu zemboni futhi unezimfanelo zobuchwepheshe ezifanelekile ezihlanganiswe nolwazi nethalente. Zene Isihlalo Sokudla iyahlonishwa ngenxa yokucophelela kwayo futhi ihlelelwe ukulethela izinguquko zomgangatho wempilo ezisiza ukwenza umhlaba ube yindawo engcono.
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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