for his katalyst lounge chair, arya triandana explores bamboo joining with an industrial twist

Arya Triandana presents Katalyst lounge chair

Indonesian architect and designer Arya Triandana presents Katalyst, a lounge chair with neo-vernacular aesthetics. Made for semi-outdoor spaces, the furniture piece reflects a blend of brutalism and industrial design with bamboo joining techniques from tropical cultures. Material-wise, this duality translates into steel and black bamboo combined as angular geometric shapes, in a predominantly monochrome color palette. As Triandana explains, this odd and playful hybrid explores techniques, irregular materials, and ergonomic principles to redefine form and function. ‘Evolving to suit changing tastes, lifestyles and technological advancements. This piece embodies the marriage of intellectual rigor and understated elegance,’ he shares. 

pairing industrial metal elements with tropical black bamboo

Starting from his interest in his own identity and roots, Arya Triandana founded his multidiscplinary studio, bwah:spatium, to explore dramatic space-planning and put some amusement in his designs to evoke surprise and an eccentric touch. With the Katalyst lounge chair, the designer sourced materials from fabrication and industrial sectors, as well as from natural reservoirs. The result is a mix of shafting round bar, steel sheet plates, and black bamboo as the primary structural element. From a modern industrial perspective, using metal reflects efficacy and helps accommodate multifarious forms with a slender profile while ensuring structural integrity and adaptability. As an aesthetic accent, the allure of black bamboo conjure a sense of romanticism, a characteristic feature of furniture pieces in tropical design. 

Beyond the traditional use of bamboo dowels, resin serves here as a medium to fill the voids within the junction of round bar and bamboo, a conspicious departure from the conventional joining systems. ‘Acting as a catalyst in design discourse, this encapsulates an amalgamation of various architectural idioms that have had their ascendary across different periods. Crafted to juxtapose while harmonizing with natural surroundings while offering unparalleled leisures ergonomically learned conventional chair. It embodies a facelift in both its appearance and contextual object design, where theoretical concepts meet real-world functionality,’ concludes the designer. 

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project info:

name: Katalyst lounge chair

lead designer: Arya Triandana | @arryasmarra
studio: bwah:spatium | @bwah.spatium