heat-pressed artificial wood melts into organic joints for mocky furniture series

Tact Inoue builds HEAT-PRESSed ARTIFICIAL WOOD furniture series

MOCKY is a furniture series by Tact Inoue that explores the structural and formal possibilities of artificial wood. Rather than relying on conventional joinery, the project uses heat and pressure to fuse components made from artificial wood, creating organically distorted joints, protrusions, and irregular connections.

The furniture is made from artificial wood composed of wood flour and resin, a material commonly used for decking. When heated and compressed, the components adhere to one another, forming fused structures that also gain strength through the process. Unlike natural wood, which typically requires carefully designed mortise-and-tenon joints, the resin content of artificial wood allows the material to be reshaped and connected through heat and pressure.

The material is heated using hot plates or heat guns, after which the softened surfaces are pressed together in a manual press. This process enables forms and structural connections that would not be possible with conventional natural wood construction. Rather than imitating the appearance of natural wood, MOCKY examines the specific properties of artificial wood as a material and uses them as the basis for a different approach to furniture making.

MOCKY explores the structural possibilities of artificial wood | all images ©Tact Inoue

MOCKY EMBRACES IRREGULARITY THROUGH HEAT-FUSED WOOD FORMS

The resulting forms are characterized by warped surfaces, irregular joints, and organic distortions. The process moves away from precisely calculated connections and instead uses a method closer to molding, with the material physically compressed and reshaped through manual pressing.

By embracing the irregularities produced during this semi-industrial process, MOCKY by creative studio Tact Inoue explores how heat, pressure, and material behavior can become active components of furniture design. The series presents artificial wood not as a substitute for natural timber, but as a material with its own structural and formal possibilities.

MOCKY Chair uses heat and pressure instead of conventional joinery

artificial wood components are fused into organic connections

the heated surfaces are brought together and pressed together using a 20t press machine

the melted resin components adhere to each other

the bench requires no aprons or stretchers, and the seat is made of two completely independent components

the furniture process is closer to molding than conventional assembly

irregularity becomes an active part of the furniture-making process

each joint emerges from the behavior of the softened material

the lamp reinterprets the longitudinal voids originally designed to reduce the weight of the material

MOCKY examines artificial wood beyond its use as a timber substitute

the resin content allows the material to be reshaped

Tact Inoue explores material behavior as a driver of furniture design

project info:

name: MOCKY
designer: Tact Inoue | @in_tact_11

designboom has received this project from our DIY submissions feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. See more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: Christina Vergopoulou | designboom