A Computer-Designed Chair

The young Polish designer Malgorzata Mozolewska is the author of an interesting concept of chairs entitled “Structural Ornament”. At first glance, her works are reminiscent of an ancient regime’s antique armchairs or any other antique period which today, in an era of minimalism and clean white lines, is almost always deemed kitsch. But Mozolewska, a fifth-year student of design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, presented a line of chairs possessing antique decorative charm produced by ultramodern technology! Her works are an interesting combination of highly pragmatic ways of design with an entirely aesthetic approach to furniture.

The key to her design lies in the algorithmic software developed by the designer Michal Piasecki, a young researcher who studies the application of algorithms in the online mass production of individual units.

The starting point is a randomly organized network which Mozolewska manipulates so as to achieve a realistic chair shape. By using software, the designer thickens the places which have to bear the heavier weight, that is, tapers those places that don’t bear the weight. The end result is purely ornamental: the designer herself defines the shape of the chair as long as functional instances are met.

The next thing up is the 3-D printing stage, which could hardly even be imagined a few years back. The computer is connected to the printing devices sending out production instructions and voila!, the chair, close to the new MacBookAir in weight, is all done! In any case, the chair’s originality can’t be denied, despite being computer-generated. Which begs the question: is it even possible to continue glorifying mere handicraft compared to something like this?

For more on her work click here.