‘construction chair’ by kyouei design

kouichi okamoto of kyouei design continues his artistic research of metal chairs with the ‘construction chair’. the first in the series was ‘composition chair’, which was handmade by okamoto and developed by bending 3.0mm hard aluminium wire and crossing it one by one without the use of fasteners or welding.

this follow-up seating object is made of 481 0.5mm thick square copper pillars that are stacked precisely upon one another and soldered together into the final form. the chair measures 700 x 640 x 700mm and has a total weight of 120 kg.

kyouei design: construction chair - 2 detail of some of the 481 copper pillars

kyouei design: construction chair - 3 image © designboom

with ‘composition chair’, kouichi continues his exploration in how materials evolve and age over time. when these images were captured, the chair was only a week old but already started to show signs of patina, accenting the lustre copper surface of the seat with hints of green.

kyouei design: construction chair - 4 detail image © designboom

kyouei design: construction chair - 5 kyouei designs earlier ‘composition chair’ (left) compared with ‘construction chair’ (right)

kyouei design: construction chair - 6 ‘composition chair’

the only tools used for this design were a jig and a pair of pliers. the chair which measures 700mm x 640mm x 700mm, weighs 60 kg and took more than 6 months to produce.

kyouei design: construction chair - 7 the only tools used to construct ‘composition chair’ were a jig and a pair of pliers

kyouei design: construction chair - 8 the making of the ‘composition chair’

kyouei design: construction chair - 9 kouichi okamoto image © designboom