carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban
image © designboom

shigeru ban conceived a light-weight chair that uses carbon fiber TENAX® for
lightness and tensile strength. rather than using carbon fiber on its own, he created a
tough structure by sandwiching aluminium between thin layers of carbon fiber.
the use of aluminium in the combination eanbles successful pinpointing of
the characteristics of carbon fiber.


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban
image © designboom


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban
image © designboom


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban
image © designboom


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban
image © designboom

'I wanted to make a chair that is even lighter than the gio ponti's superleggera -
a chair so light that a child could pick it up with just his little finger. carbon fiber provide
great tensile strength than all other materials, but it loses out on compressive strength,
and carbon fibers are very slender. carbon fiber is also much more expensive than other
materials and difficult to work. we tried to use only the material's advantages and
avoid its disadvantages, so we stuck a 0,25 mm carbon fiber layer onto each side
of thin aluminium panels...'
shigeru ban


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban
image © designboom


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban, detail
image © designboom


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban, detail
image © designboom


carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban - aluminium structure



carbon fiber chair by shigeru ban