In Amsterdam I had the pleasure of not only meeting the world famous cellist Frances Marie Uitti, but to also make a custom cello playing version of the Layer Chair for her. After a performance in the Theatrum Anatomicum, she fell in love with the parametric chair design that I have developed. And once Alex Schaub told her that it is possible to adjust the profile and size of the chair anyway you like, we had no choice but to make one for her. Continue Reading →
Now that Alex had some fancy new black chairs in his lab, he realized that he wanted a table to go with the chairs. So, I designed a parametric table that matches the shape language of the Layer Chair. The design lets you specify the measurement of any plate you would like to use as a table top. The output of the Grasshopper definition is a table frame that fits your plate of leftover material.
Alex Schaub (FabLab manager Amsterdam) liked the Layer Chair I made in the HONFablab Indonesia so much that we decided to make a few for his lab as well. We used one sheet of 18mm black MDF per chair. Colored MDF is a very intersting material for making large objects on the ShopBot. We are currently investigating different finishing processes like lacquering and waxing so that the chair will be spill proof.
I made the layer chair as an example of how to work with large organic surfaces on the shopbot. It was also a good excuse to make something a bit more refined and comfortable for the interior of the HONFablab. It is parametric design made in Grashopper, which makes it very easy to adjust the sitting profile, width, height, material thickness and so on. The Grasshopper definition uses two input curves. One for the midprofile of the seat, and one for the sideprofile. The definition outputs cutting lines, alignment holes and “trim lines” for making the inside of the seating more organic. In a way it is 2.5D process with manual control of the steps used to create the 3D surface.
Here is an update on some of the projects we are working on at HONFablab Yogyakarta:
CNC Marker drawing:
We tested marker drawing on the ShopBot with great success. This can become an interesting way of customizing CNC furniture. It also a good way to add something more exciting to the regular CNC flat-pack designs.