Oslo-based designer So Takahashi presented Origami chair as part of 100% Norway in London last month.
The chair is made from folded, powder-coated sheet metal.
It was exhibited at 100% Norway at Designersblock in Covent Garden.
Here's some information from 100% Norway:
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This is the second year So Takashi can count himself amongst the exhibitors at 100% Norway. Previously an interior designer for Snøhetta's Løvetann housing project (shown in 2006), Oslo-based Takahashi works across spatial, print, packaging and product design disciplines, and this year is launching his Origami chair.
The basis for Takahashi's design studio has been to combine commercial work with an ongoing exploration of design that, he explains, "floats between the different dimensions: 2D, 3D, audio. Whether it is a book cover, a chair an album or a performance, it is all part of the same exploration and creative process of designing an ouitput - an expression."
Although he travels a great deal, it has been life in Oslo that recently inspired Takahashi to work on 3D objects. The Origami chair is the first product from many sketches that has come to be realised.
I think that this chair is very nice but it has a problem of stability. The rear legs are to close to each other, and not far enough form the center of grabity (from the side view).
This chair has very Interesting look. Cold be an object to lift the space of a dull house up? If the chair is wider enough for those who has wider a$$ is a question which comes accross my mind, butit looks nice…
Very nice So!
Good job
After origami chair (last design post) it’s here more an origami like chair.
Negative?
@ asume, if i wrote that about last origami chair it was negative : “it has a problem of stability. The rear legs are to close to each other, and not far enough form the center of grabity” .
Positive?
In fact some famous designers designed (ex Starck ) some chairs with 3 legs.
the front and back ”facades” look very contemporary. a shame ypu dont get to see the object too often everyday.
i think the chair is probably more stable than everyone thinks. what I worry more about is racking / lateral stability… since the 2 leg pieces are cut steel and are not secured horizontally. but one can;t really judge without seeing and sitting in the real thing! it also looks quite comfortable… look at how angled the back is! That combined with the sloped seat pan means you will fall right back in there. an excellent first effort.
nice bit of simple sheet metal design!
Like it (tho I would have liked to have seen the legs with some subtle out of plane folds in them as well, just to stiffen them up
:)
inspiration: fuguro could do an origami stool
http://www.manystuff.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/fulguro-pyramid-1.jpg
As far as my knowledge of maths and physics goes I think a chair with 3 legs is mare stable than any other. 3 points form exactly one plane and the 4th point could be in another one. That is why the chair with three legs is more stable. I don’t think this chair can have a problem with stability.
bravisimoooooooooooooooooooooo
@ arhandrew great to be positive
This chair looks very nice and clean. There are two major drawbacks to these types of chairs and none of them have to do with stability.
1. Powder coated chairs tend to chip off and flake the paint while at the same time get scratched pretty easily even with the occasional guest that wants to sit on it.
2. They feel pretty cold when sit down!! (its metal after all)
2. For the purposes of the photo shoot, it probably doesn’t have any rubber or felt at the base of the legs but it will need them, especially if you don’t want the buyer bringing it back because it has just ruined your whole new floor with severe scratch marks.
True story, it has happened especially when people buy multiples and use them for dinner parties.
I do own several chair types that fall into this category (Metal and powder coated). For example, Hole chairs by the Bouroullecs (these are the ones made of aluminum, they are powder coated and with color gradients through the middle) and also Grcic’s chair One, these are supposed to stack but the polyurethane pad in the bottom is so hard that tends to scratch the paint when you stack them.
So if you want to simply enjoy how it looks and feels within your space, Takahashi’s chair is gorgeous and I don’t think it has any stability issues, it work like a tripod logic. But if you want to really use it that might be a different story, especially if you are going to be a paranoid freak every time a guest wants to try out.
Although 3 points would make the most stable plane mathematically, and many chairs do have three legs, the question of stability lies in how a person sits in it.
Three legs would be all that are ever needed assuming the sitter keeps their center of gravity within the triangle. If the user leans (either sitting and reaching, or during the process of sitting down or getting up) and shifts the center of gravity outside the triangle of points, the chair will tip.
This is why office/task chairs usually have a five pointed base – to maximize the area that the center of gravity can be over without losing stability.
Wow, the comments are so relaxed and friendly all of a sudden.
I wonder how long this will last.
It like the chair, although “powder-coated sheet metal” doesn’t say which metal it is made from… As for stability, it is a little more complex because it is a hybrid between a 3 and a 4 legged chair. It does in fact have 4 legs; ie. even a slight change in length from one of the back legs to another will make it wobble. As well, because two of the legs are so close togheter it can be considered a three legged chair in the grander scheme of structural things: see Konstantin Grcic’s Stool One for a lesson in stability. However, unlike that stool, which has one leg in “front” and the other two in the “back”, the weight and balance of a person lounging / slouching a little
too much on either side might cause the chair to trip.
I guess one would have to try it to judge.
One of the most beautiful and simple chairs i have seen in quite a while! Love it.
Looks as though this chair would wobble about a little too much as the back legs are not horizontally connected as Henry stated earlier. Though stability is not an issue here.
Visually light but physically heavy. Could be developed further.
also it may just be me but i find zuy incredibly annoying and ill-informed
muy buen diseño (simple/hermoso)
@ Fred “Wow, the comments are so relaxed and friendly all of a sudden.
I wonder how long this will last.”
When the selection is good the comments are positive but provocation against designers will come soon (see tape mesure project)
I cant believe this debate about stability.
Its not rocket science – its basic basic engineering!
Refer to Scotts reply if you are unsure about the stability of this chair. Obviously if you lean back in this chair you’re asking for it.
Henry and iamreply:
See bottom pic – there is no 90 degree fold in the leg sheet at the joint between the leg sheet and the seat sheet – which would help. So it looks like the two sheets are welded together in a butt joint (not very stiff joint, high bending moment taken up by welds) . But to allevieate this, from what I can see I believe that the backrest sheet is what is supporting the butt joint, securing the leg sheets and stopping them from doing the splits.
cpcp i’m not saying they will do the “splits.” i’m just saying there will be a little bit of horizontal movement ( wobble) when sitting. nothing serious but still it will be there. This chair is underdeveloped. trust me i know. iamdesigner
i think some designers are right about technical pb but technical is near nothing for an iconic chair but it’s could be an icon and as consultant i must say origami like was a trend until Milan 07 in object , in furniture and in lighting design
Even though it marks the epoque, I think the origami/facette style is way past over, It was cool to do it in 2003/4 when Gricic, Rene Barba and the Bouroulec’s did some good work in this style.
Now its over to the late adopters to enjoy and kill it.
the first image has been photoshopped on the sides to extend the frame.
You are right Xit , it’s the same for “barock” in any catalogue “Now its over to the late adopters to enjoy and kill it.”
Despite the name. I don´t think it represents a real origame style chair. Maybe the italian market could refuse it because of past trends but not Norway´s.
I like it. It´s lines are simple. It´s clean, light. Looks confortable.
see other goog design ins^pired by origami
http://kostasvoyatzis.wordpress.com/2007/10/14/inspired-by-origami-art/
May be Edouardo is right , it’s quite nice and easy to manufacture but for contract market? outdoors furniture? indoors furniture?
Did any of you that commented on concerns over stability actually sit in this chair? I did, and there is no stability issues.
nice, simple and pure white