metal furniture inflated using a bike pump puff by moran barmaper

‘puff’ stool by moran barmaper

the concept of inflated metal furniture was conceived by polish architect and designer oskar zieta when he was researching techniques that could afford the creation of durable 3D objects out of flat shapes of standard material at ETH zurich back in 2002. a process which was previously used in the car industry, zieta has since developed a series of functional objects exercising this means of production, recently expanding his work to more architectural projects. see more on designboom about oskar zieta’s process and work here.

now israeli designer moran barmaper has developed a DIY approach to this with ‘puff’, a flat pack stool which users simply inflate using a bicycle pump – in a single moment a piece of metal can be blown-up from a two-dimensional piece into a three-dimensional structure offering character and strength. the design accompanies barmaper’s previous ‘yayu’ table and ‘dan’ bench which are also made using the same technique.

each ‘puff’ steel features an inflated metal seat

demonstrating the inflation of the ‘puff’ stool using a bike pump video courtesy of moran barmaper

‘puff’ features wooden legs that become an integral part of the stool’s base structure, the combination of the contrasting materials offering stability.

detail of the wood leg and metal seat connection

each piece appears differently

‘puff’ can be easily inflated by a bike pump

production process of ‘puff’

welding the metal sheets together

inflating the stool’s seat

‘dan’ bench

through screw connectors the ‘dan’ bench allows the attachment of legs through the same places where it has been inflated.

the points of inflation also act as the place for connecting the seat to the legs

‘floating wheel’

‘yayu’ table

barmaper’s developments include the ‘yayu’ table, a design made from a template where the concept is to control the material in order to create a flat surface while only part of the metal is inflated.

‘puff’ accordion