Carbon chair
The chair is a small, lightweight object that must be designed to sustain great pressure, and to address problems of stability, ergonomy and economy. It has to be comfortable, familiar, soft and pleasant to use for extended periods of time. A prototype exists, and it weighs about one kilo (2.2 lbs). This chair can be stacked, and a single person should be able to carry about a dozen of them. Carbon fibre is the mono-material used to create the back, seat and legs of this very lightweight, simple object. Two carbon fibre laminate sheets enclose a lightweight core. This composite is as warm on contact as wood. The surface can be given a variety of appearances and textures through different treatments in the manufacturing moulds, which make it as pleasant and interesting to touch and look at as natural materials. Such sophisticated and still costly techniques are finding more and more industrial applications, and may soon become more accessible. The main difficulty is in the making of the core whose complex geometry is an assembly of a variety of bent surfaces.
[ + ] detail [ – ] detail