Product Design Multi-functional Chair

Product Design Multi-functional Chair

For my finale on my last year at high school doing Product Design i decided to manufacture a multi-functionl chair. I put a lot of time and work into this project and I'm glad i did because the outcome was better than expected. 

First i had to come up with an idea for a chair, i looked at all the problems i faced as well as others had faced when seating on a chair. it came to the conclusion that a chair with an easily accessible table would be great. 

I had the idea to create a chair thats ergonomically pleasing with a function of a table, storage space, extra armrest length and shoe space underneath. 

After restless nights on drawing designs for my product i finally zeroed in on two. 

Then i had to research the anthropometrics of the human body. 

I researched everything primary and secondary from body height, average persons (both man and woman under a certain age) back length, back width, waist size, to the angle of leaning down right and left, average length from buttocks to knee...etc 

Everything i tell you. 

I made models using cardboard and styrofoam and a 1:10 ratio model. 

This was my top idea 

To have a table that swings out and swings in. After using the table you can put it away so it doesn't take up space. Its compact and easily accessible. 

That gap you see the table entering and exiting, i also want to turn that into a box shelf/storage space, the table will only be accessible from one side and the other side you can use to store remote controls, snacks, magazines...etc. 

This second best idea included of a much larger storage space. Space is so precious nowadays, people can't afford large homes and space is expensive, this is why i wanted to create something that prevented the outpacing of space and a furniture. 

A fold out table. 

Plenty of storage space underneath your seat. 

I decided to go with the first idea. 

Below are just a few documented photographs of my manufacturing process. 

I decided to use styrofoam to reduce the weight of the overall product. 

Hot wire cutting 

Throughout the making process i kept germinating great ideas. 

One idea i had was to incorporate my Fine Art Practice into my Deign. 

In Fine Art i was looking at Automatic Art, painting and drawing subconsciously. 

I thought that the fabric to the cushions of my chair can be made using a painting of mine so i did. 

I first had to cut out a set sized MDF, sticking cushion foam on top according to size. 

I then made paintings on canvases at the art department and i wrapped the fabric around the cushion. 

I wanted the extra space in front of your hand so it becomes convenient for the user to put his or her drink down without any hassle at all. Another feature incorporated into the chair. 

At this stage when i was completed my product, i allowed my peers and teachers to sit and try out my chair, it was good to hear feedback from them as it will help tremendously towards whatever i do next. 

This was such an enjoyable experience, i learned so much, and i made this beauty. I'm really proud to have made this piece. 

Fauvist Landscapes of Giggleswick

Fauvist Landscapes of Giggleswick 

During this period i was fascinated with the outdoors just as much as i was fascinated with this style of painting, inspired by the fauves, Claude Monet's Venice twilight was a piece i was truly fascinated by. How the colours set the mood of the painting and therefore the response of the viewership. I realised that colours have a psychological power if used correctly, it can alter a persons mood, change ones emotion or even implant one. 

i even used oil paint to try reproducing the Venice twilight by Monet. 

I went outside and did some life drawings

Experimented with colours and brush makings 

Above pieces were simply paintings on test strips of canvas 

Below are the larger pieces that i took my time on

I worked hard and focused a lot on the brush making, i wanted the details to stand out from a distance, especially in the skies. I wanted the viewers eyesight to move with the markings on the canvas, markings that guide them throughout the entire painting through the uses of colour and directional mark makings of a brush. 

The skies were not as brilliantly executed in the painting above 

This piece i finished my series on. 

The skies are so powerful, i emphasised the blue, like a giant mass of weathering clouds crashing into the landscape, but what it also does is leads the viewers line of sight throughout the whole painting, it guides you from top to bottom. 

These Landscape paintings was one of my most enjoyable series, i look forward to getting back into it in the future. 

Barn door Painting in Plaster and Acrylic paint

Barn Door Painting 

During one weekend, i went to a friends house. His family owned a farm and hundreds of acres of land. I love the countryside, growing up in boarding school in North Yorkshire i grew to love the countryside. 

When i went to his house, i spent hours admiring the outdoors which lead to this piece. 

Yes i love the countryside but what i found fascinating on my long walks was discovering old buildings, the texture of them, the damages they had endured through weather, the interior...etc

I started documenting what i saw and photographed all that interests me. 

The moss growing on the buildings, the wear and tear the building and its materials have suffered through, the building body texture, the colour, the smell, the silent. 

I wanted to paint a still life of a barn door i came across. 

covering ¾ of the space, darkness inside gave contrast to the mould and mud on the once white painted door outside. the bricks growing with fungus on its surrounds. it was beautiful. 

I experimented with plaster, i wanted a 3 dimensional appeal that would really pop out th canvas. More than just a painting. 

I wanted the texture on the barn door so i experimented with the use of different kinds of cardboard. 

Finally after all the experimenting i knew how to proceed so i did and the outcome was amazing. 

This was the canvas i painted on but what i did was stuck ripped pieces of cardboard only on the areas i saw fit. it would create that extra depth and texture to make the overall more 3D. 

I used plaster and put it on top moulding it into brick like shapes. 

Acrylic after that. 

The annotations below are my analysis to the finished piece of painting after. to see what went well and what did not. 

In the end, i think the qualities of the cardboard and the plaster really gave this piece that compelling aesthetics that created a vas contrast between the elements of the painting. the darkness roughly in the middle brightens everything up. 

When you see this piece up close the texture looks so real that it drags you in to touch it.