johan kauppi creates sound absorbing furniture for glimakra of sweden

designer and interior architect johan kauppi has created a set of minimal sound-absorbing furniture for swedish brand glimakra. entitled ‘wakufuru’, the family consists of tables, benches and islands that combine the soft warmth of ash with discreet sound managing technology. quiet in form and quiet in function, the noise dampening collection is imagined by its creators to bring peace and silence to busy restaurants and cosy living rooms alike. the series is set to be unveiled at the stockholm furniture & light fair, running from the 7th  to the 11th of february, 2017.

video and music by nina kauppi

‘wood as a material, always contributes with a natural warmth in interiors. I wanted to find out if solid wood furniture could also reflect some of the sound atmosphere that is experienced in forests’, says johan kauppi, the designer behind the project. the minimal, rounded shape of the pieces is created using advanced CNC-milling, creating a system-consistent family where all tables and seats are constructed the same way — regardless of height or size. however, every piece of furniture hides an effective sound absorber, built up by several interacting materials that all respond to the volume of the furniture. 

entitled ‘wakufuru’, the family will have its debut at the stockholm furniture & light fair 
all images by johan kauppi

for glimakra, the brand for which the collection was designed, ‘wakufuru’ represents the continuation of a long history of working with wood. the open frame construction of the pieces conceal three different layers of sound absorbing materials which interact both with an optimized air gap and the main frame volume. the sound dampening effect works a bit like a reversed loudspeaker, where sound is absorbed instead of being amplified. ‘the diagram shows curves representing measurement data, with and without integrated sound absorption under the furniture. the visual impression of the furniture are the same in both cases — but the acoustic characteristic changes dramatically when sound absorption is integrated,’ says klas hagberg, head of acoustics at WSP acoustics, sweden and acoustic expert on the project.

the pieces are quiet in both form and function

all wakukfuru furniture have identical corners, legs and top structure. to achieve harmonic system capable of being scaled and repeated, a sophisticated CNC-milled corner was developed. frames and leg sections are all CNC-milled from ash wood, with rounded corners making them easy to combine and repeat in various constellations and gatherings. units can be combined to achieve effective sound absorption in larger spaces. ‘the design of wakufuru is very consistent. what differentiates a table from a bench is actually just the length of the legs and the size of the furniture tops’, says the kauppi.

regardless of height or size. however, every piece of furniture hides an effective sound absorber

wakufuru’s soft corner solution in solid wood neatly pinches the framework of the piece

CNC-milled corner and the lower acoustic layer of felt, seen from below

diagram displaying the measurement of sound absorption 

all wakukfuru furniture have identical corners, legs and top structure

wakufuru makes it easy to accomplish large areas of effective sound absorption

wakufuru islands and side tables repeated

a wakufuru leg mounts on a bench, at the design department of glimakra
image by patrik svedberg

rending of the entire family, with possible configurations over a wide space

project info:

tables : length 1200 / 1600 / 2000 mm. width 800 mm. height 740 mm. weight 25 / 34 / 42 kg.

benches: length 1200 / 1600 mm. width 800 mm. height 450 mm. weight 24 / 33 kg.
islands: length 900 / 1300 / 1700 mm. width 420 mm. height 450 mm. weight 13 / 19 / 25 kg.
side tables: length 500 / 800 mm. width 800 mm. height 450 mm. weight 14 kg.

frame: 100 x 20 mm solid ash with 80 mm rounded corners.
legs: solid ash ø55 mm with recess for rounded frame.
top shelf: 16 mm mdf with ash veneer.
acoustic filling: formfelt, perforated board and polyether. mounted with air gap.
seat cushion: benches and islands can be fitted with upholstered seat cushion, 20 mm

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: peter corboy | designboom