‘The shape of the ‘Gaudi Stool’ by Bram Geenen was created in the same way that Antoní Gaudi designed the structure of his churches, by making a model of hanging chains, so letting gravity determine the strongest and most logical shape for withstanding forces.
The ‘Gaudi Stool’ was part of the furnistructure project.
In the Furnistructures project was researched how lightweight products can be designed.
Lightness has a lot advantages, in the use of products and their impact on the environment.
This has lead to a research into structural systems, as found in nature and architecture, and the possibilities of designing lightweight furniture using such systems.
Materials & techniques:
A thin shell made of carbon fiber deals with the compressive forces.
A beam-grid substructure resists bending of the shell.
The substructure was made using Rapid-prototyping techniques, in order to achieve the needed complexity.
The rapid-prototyped structure was then used as a mold for the carbon-fiber laminates.
This combining of these two high-tech techniques decreased costs of both of them, and made them applicable in a functional product.’
