INDN241 Project 2 Good to great
My good design
@DROOG “Rag chair”, designed by Tejo Remy
I found a great video of Remy going over his thoughts on the chair while making one for a museum exhibition:
And another where he talks about his views on his relationship with his clients: https://youtu.be/o69UcZrKask
About drawers: https://youtu.be/WLA1QpLcRp8
“The world = Our toolkit” :
The rag chair, deigned in 1991 by Tejo Remy, is a handcrafted “communication piece”. Remy designed the chair as a stand against mass produced furniture that he felt was missing any human element. He says “When you buy something by IKEA, you don’t know how it’s being made… so you don’t know what kind of energy is put in it.”
The chair is made up of carefully layered fabrics that are then cinched down by steel straps.
My criteria for “good” design
1. Improves on past/existing models and competition
2. Environmentally friendly/responsible
3. Uses minimal material to achieve task
4. Easily/Effectively communicates functions
5. Long lasting/Repairable
6. Accessible
7. Self-aware
The rag chair itself is a re-imagination of a common chair. Tejo Remy improves the design by adding elements of story and personal connection to the chair.
Remy often repurposes materials in his designs as they are a environmentally friendly option and they bring more character and their own story to his pieces.
In the rag chair Remy layers over 45 kilograms of fabric to make up the body of the chair. Although this is a lot of fabric, it is recycled and repurposed which makes it less of a concern that it needs so much material. Tejo Remy also said himself that “It’s not about comfort, it’s about the material used”. He set out for this chair to be a conversation piece rather than simply furniture, so he uses all of that fabric to add to the story that the chair tells. Stories often have many layers and details and so the chair reflects that.
Although the focus of this chair is not to be repairable or necessarily used to it’s breaking point, the chair can be remade or have fabric added, making is repairable. I would also guess that with Tejo Remy’s intent for the chair to have a personal connection to the user, think he would see value in wear created through use.
The rag chair falls short on its accessibility as it is priced around $4000, the chair is made to order and has quite a long manufacturing time. Alternatively, that manufacturing process is not really kept secret and could even be replicated although then we fall into ethics of inauthentic products.
I think this design shows a lot of intent and thought towards what it is trying to be. It’s not joining a trend or an imitation, it brings its own value to the world of furniture, and so I would say that this is a self-aware design.
Sketching:
I have chosen to re-imagine the rag chair in the form of a rock climbing hold. My main goal, much like Tejo Remy, is to encourage conversation on the environment impacts of these existing products in hopes to see an eventual change in the industry. Most holds are made with polyurethane or polyester resins and although they can be quite strong easily made, those chemicals still aren’t great options for our environment when people are eventually done with those holds.
I work in a climbing gym that is about to do a big renovation of its walls. Thousands of old holds are going to be evaluated and either resold/given away or thrown away, then replaced with thousands more new plastic holds. This is what has encouraged me to look at alternative options.
HRT hold manufacturers:
Above is a quick test to see how fabric may be used to provide a hand grip.
As I see it I can think of two main options to make fabric into a climbing hold.
Layering, similar to the rag chair or the photos above.
Or melting synthetic fabrics into a plastic like material to form in a mould.
I am leaning towards the layering because I feel like creating a functioning hold that is simple more liquified plastic does not communicate the same need for finding new materials for climbing holds.
Although the steel straps provide a lot of strength, I feel they do not fit or communicate any benefit to the design of the product. Therefore, part of my improvement will be to leave them out of my design.
Above I folded a T-shirt in quarters vertically, then in an “S” like pattern to create some volume.
Below are photos of climbing holds I took at work.
HRT holds website:https://hrt-holds.com/page/about_us
Uprising website:https://uprising-online.com/
Using a hand wrap as a precedent I rolled strips of paper to create a layered form that could potentially be used to create my hold.
I think I would find myself running into issues with getting it to hold its own shape and then also being placed on a wall would be difficult.
Sketch of possible process for the folding layers method.
Bellow are photos from the process I took to create the final product. The fabric and plywood is all recycled/reclaimed.
I cut the fabric into strips then l stacked them and folded in a Z shape t maintain the desired size. I used the same bolts used to hold real climbing holds onto walls. The walls are also often made of plywood. I made the decision to wrap the ply in fabric to complete the look.
Final images:
