July 18, 2015

TOOL CHAIR BY FREDERIC JULIAN RÄTSCH

"How do we actually sit? Do we really need the whole seat or a classic backrest? Is there always a front or a back? - To questioning known typologies and standards is fundamental in my work as a designer. It is not about making just new and pleasing things, or even for a fashion trend, but rather about driving forward an evolution of things. In doing so, it is necessary to fathom out and change boundaries. The TOOL CHAIR is a chair which enables - maybe even provokes - flexible seating. It enables the sitter to take up various postures and positions. A bent plate on the side offers support, be it as arm rest or backrest, to hold on to, to rest on or place something. With its narrow seat, the TOOL CHAIR cultivates the habit of sitting on the edge of a chair. With its rounded sides and edges, it does not prescribe a sitting posture and allows the sitter to move in any direction.

On average we sit about 9.3 hours per day - much more than we stand, walk or lie. Sitting permanently in one position is unhealthy and sap one's energy. The TOOL CHAIR is to help the user remain concentrated, not for relaxing. On this chair you stay agile - you stand up and sit down again. The seat height is higher than usual to facilitate this. The TOOL CHAIR does not extrapolate immediately, but rather has to be discovered. This involvement increases the "potential for identification". Mostly the chair is not perceived indifferently, but surprises and provokes the user towards discovery.

The TOOL CHAIR is the result of the bachelor thesis on the subject of "Serial Production - a Restriction". In addition to the theme of agile seating, the project’s focus was the precise multiplication of a product with the tools of university’s workshop. The concept and design were continually tested and adapted with serial production in mind.

The restriction was taken as a chance for simplicity and clarity. The design is characterized by straight wooden slats which are just cutted in a special angle and glued afterwards. Tools for the reproduction of components were built in order to manufacture several chairs in a standardised process."












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