I'm fascinated by chair design. What makes a chair timeless? This was an exercise to explore structure, function, and style considerations. The chair is named in honor of the street my wife and I bought our first house on. The house was built in 1920 and we did a major renovation, modernising it, but also keeping much of the original character (I'll post that as another project one day).
Despite my love of quality, bespoke furniture, I have never spent much time honing the craft of design and creation. It's a hobby I hope to develop in the coming years.
It seemed like a good idea to embark on a first attempt! After measuring some of my favorite chairs, asking questions of those who are knowledgeable, and doing a bit of research, I had a first go at a simple profile. I then cut a scaled prototype on the Glowforge and assembled it. Fun to see it start to come to life!
The sides of the chair are cut from a single piece, reducing instability from front to back. The horizontal structure is supported by jointed cross braces and reinforced by seat and back panels. These may be upholstered or solid wood pieces sculpted into the frame. It's a work in progress and just a fun exploration! My next step is to cut some curve templates on the Glowforge and do a full-scale prototype in 3/4 inch plywood. More to come…
Initial concept drawn in Illustrator.
Rough mini prototype cut in draftboard on the Glowforge
Full size side template cut on the Glowforge
Full-size rough prototype cut from subflooring to test proportions and angles. My jigsaw was giving me issues when i cut this so the shape isn't perfect. Just wanted to test it out before i cut a proper one with the router