OBJECT 7

The elegant cardboard chair.

Get yourself some cardboard and a box-cutter (that infamous weapon) and see if you can make an object that will hold a person’s weight. Not easy but not impossible either. Now try to make that object that looks and works like a chair…not easy at all.
Making a chair out of cardboard is an exercise that most architecture students have had to partake in at some point in their training. It’s an excellent way to gain an understanding of material properties and structural design. A piece of cardboard is a bendy thing until you fold it into a triangular beam whereupon it becomes rigid enough to support hundreds of times its weight. You can go here or here or here to see examples of cardboard chair making.

Frank Gehry, arguably the most well known living architect, worked with cardboard early on in his career. The WIGGLE CHAIR is probably the best example of his cardboard work but is not quite in the same category of object I’m referring to. Although it is constructed of 60 layers of corrugated cardboard, it also includes fiberboard and screw fasteners. This chair is in production (VITRA) and is a commercial success, but it would be disqualified in any cardboard chair making challenge.
About 10 years ago, Josée and I were exploring some of the small streets near Ile Saint-Louis in Paris when we came upon the cardboard chair pictured at right.
The chair sat in the street level window of an architectural firm. We walked in and immediately fell in love with it. The chair had been designed by one of the partners in the firm, Olivier Leblois, and we were informed that it had recently gone into commercial production by a Canadian firm, KIOSK Canada. Shortly after returning to Bermuda, I managed to purchase one online for $40 or $50.

The chair is known as the KIOSK CHAIR (1992) by Kiosk Canada with the chopsticks (tying the horizontal support beam to the side walls) or T.4.1. (Tea for One, 1993) by Quart de Poil, France, without chopsticks. The former may no longer be in production but the latter is easily available online and is designed specifically for children.
We have not used ours very frequently because the humidity in Bermuda is not cardboard friendly. However, my good friend Don Dessario who lives in Calgary used his on a daily basis for years before it had to be replaced. The chair is comfortable and feels sturdy enough to stand on. You may consider the chopsticks cheating but since the chair is in production without them, the designer can be forgiven for including them. In my opinion, the chopsticks are completely unexpected and give the chair that extra little bit of flair.
Hope you like our cardboard chair and you can view the complete slideshow of my photos of it here.

Joseph Froncioni

Comments

[Joseph Froncioni]

Thanks for that Jen. Quite a table!
You (the artist) might be interested in 2 photographs Alex and I submited to a recent exhibition here in Bermuda that got very good reviews: 1- Soles of New York City in my photo album 2- Clothesline in Alexes phot album.
Cheers and all the best.

[Jenny Donovan]

Merry Christmas Joe!

I was just showing this YouTube video to Andy who thought you might find this interesting.....

Have a look!
https://www.crapshot.com/amazing-table-video.html

All the best in the New year!
Jen