From Russian designer Vadim Kibardin. It’s pricey, of course, but I think all you’d need for a remake is a bunch of closet rod, a miter saw, some wood glue, and vast patience. [via Neatorama]
12 thoughts on “Dowel chair”
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Maybe it’s easier than it looks — glue all the rods together in a ROUGH approximation of the shape but leave the ends flat
then have at it with an angle grinder?
Totally. It’s basically carving. I might suggest hiding a steel threaded rod or something through it in a few strategic places for additional strength, especially the load-bearing members. Wood glue has a way of softening at inopportune times. Also, be careful about splitting out the edges with the angle grinder. You might want to finish it with a file or palm sander.
how about, don’t try to make this stupid thing? I’m so sick of this crap: glue a bunch of stuff together and sculpt a chair out of it. What a waste of material. Good design is that which accomplishes the most while using the least to do it. This is just a lame, design-student-y gimmick. Blech.
I tend to be more of a function over form person myself (realizing that a balance of the two is best), but I still like the aesthetic of this piece. I see it as an art piece that could have some practical use. To me however, it looks like it might be uncomfortable to actually sit in. So maybe it’s not all that innovative from an engineering standpoint, and it wastes a lot of energy and material, but in the end it still looks cool – worthy of a remake but not necessarily suitable for mass production. I certainly wouldn’t want a living room full of this design, but one sitting in the corner would surely garner some attention from guests…
“glue a bunch of stuff together and sculpt a chair out of it.”
Ummm, isn’t that how the first chairs were made?
Really, man… settle down. There’s a list–longer than the state you live–in of things to worry about before someone ‘wasting’ (from your singular perspective) material in building something like this. If you don’t like it, walk away and keep doing your thing. Experimentation is what helped your profession develop in the first place. Yet, you get on a forum for experimenters and bash them for experimenting?
Meditation, or a change in diet might help your outlook. Just sayin’.
“Ummm, isn’t that how the first chairs were made?”
I don’t think so, but let’s assume they were. That fact would only illustrate why I’m annoyed at this post/chair: celebrating something that is not progressive at all. If the dowels were somehow salvaged/upcycled, maybe. But think about the wood used here. The dowels first have to be machined round, then the whole thing ganged up and shaped.
I’ll concede that I may need a diet change, or to better hold my tongue, but I’ve seen a number of things like this lately in the furniture realm. It’s not innovative… it doesn’t better solve the problem “how to build a thing out of wood to hold the human body while in a seated position” … it’s a wasteful step backward. It’s only kinda “neat”.
I think I could better express my feelings if I were able to come up with some electronic/technical analog that involved messy soldering/wasteful use of electronics. Maybe you get my point though.
I could just be a miserable person, but like any nerd, I’m passionate about my narrow realm of interest and I hold things in that space to a high standard.
Sorry to bum you out.