anton alvarez: the craft of thread wrapping

anton alvarez: the craft of thread wrapping
image courtesy of anton alvarez/paul plews

anton alvarez is the designer behind a series of thread-wrapped furniture, which utilized a specific device that he developed as a mechanical medium. he is the creator of the thread wrapping machine, a mechanism which joins different types of material with glue-coated thread, binding the objects together without any nails or screws. alvarez takes pieces of material — wood, steel or plastic — and coats them in glue, then spins them in thousands of meters of thread. as alvarez controlls the mechanism by a foot pedal, the sticky parts are passed through the wrapping machine as it cycles around. while this process is taking place, additional components are added to create the legs of a chair or seat backs.

one of the pieces presented at design miami/basel 2013 together with gallery libby sellers
photo courtesy of paul plews

the artist uses a variety of colors and styles of thread, ultimately creating different decorative patterns for the final objects. the style, which he calls the craft of thread wrapping, is a new way of making that has spawned from alvarez’ background in cabinetmaking and research in process-based design. he has created hundreds of pieces of furniture — stools, benches, chairs, lamps, and interlocking structures — using the thread wrapping machine. his work has been presented at design miami/basel 2013 by gallery libby sellers. alvarez will be part of the sixth edition of IN residence, a thematic workshop that seeks to contribute to contemporary debate about design, from october 9th – 12th 2013.

wood, glue-coated thread bench
photo courtesy of paul plews