offcut’ is samuel wilkinson studio’s installation for the london design festival for the ‘design undefined #2’ exhibition held at the clerkenwell department store.
the project is set within a 3m x 3m black metal cube placed within the
shop. inside the cube there are over 4,000 offcuts that have been
collected from the steam bending factory and have been cut, sorted and
then hung up on a clear wire. the surrounding wood is lit from the
inside, creating a dynamic cocoon, ideal to present the designer’s
latest work: the ‘brace’ chair.
‘brace’ is a contemporary chair that embraces and promotes
british quality manufacturing, producing it in a factory within 100
miles of the studio and with materials that have been locally sourced.
steam-bending wood is a traditional process steeped in history. it is
low energy, ecological and a truly economical method for manipulating
wood. it has a reduced scrap rate since smaller pieces can be bent into
shape rather than machined from larger blocks. there are only a small
number of skilled manufacturers who can produce steam bent products on
any scale and these are expensive due to rising labour costs and the
handmade discipline required
name ‘brace’ derives from the traditional arch bracing used for many classic steam-bent designs. an “arch brace” is a curved piece of wood that acts as a secondary fixing to strengthen the structure. a series of arch braces in their purest application have been used to create the chair’s minimal form, negating the need for a cross structure making it lighter, leaner and allowing the curved seat pan to appear to float in the middle of the frame
brace’ will be made available in a variety of finishes including the matte black, cobalt blue and lime washed ash. each has a heavy sandblasted finish to highlight the solid wood construction and enhance the natural grain
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