Blond's "Peel Chair" is Constructed From a Single Piece of Plywood

East London design studio Blond has provided a window into the method behind its “Peel Chair”, which sees a single piece of plywood remodeled right into a Marcel Breuer-inspired seat.

The studio, led by James Melia, introduced the Peel Chair alongside for its Milan Design Week showcase, which passed off within the metropolis’s Brera District, and was aptly titled “Casa Blond”. Right here, in a sequence of exhibitions, guests have been in a position to get a really feel for the studio and the work it produces, together with the methods during which it conceptualises initiatives, and the way its designs come to fruition.

One room displayed the Peel Chair alongside items of furnishings that had been crafted from its off-cuts. A specifically commissioned movie was mounted on the wall, and detailed its course of from materials to completed product.

Working alongside a staff of craftspeople in Hungary, Blond designers developed the form of the Peel chair having been impressed by the shapes created when bark comes away from a tree trunk. Combining this with a nod to the plywood furnishings of modernist Marcel Breuer, and utilizing a single sheet of plywood – their very own piece was born.

Plywood was chosen due to its low-cost and low-waste credentials. To create the folded form, a warmth press (set at a temperature of 100 levels) was used, and squashes collectively layers of the fabric, which has been spliced and glued previous to moulding. As soon as off the press, the chair is transferred to a CNC chopping machine, which makes the chairs ultimate form, earlier than the weather – seat and body – being glued collectively by hand. The part of fabric that’s lower out to kind the again of the chair, which can ordinarily go to waste, has been used to create the bottom of a espresso desk.

“You get this combination of hand craftsmanship, like splicing veneers collectively after which glueing them, that every one feels fairly handbook,” James Melia says. “It’s a distinction to the opposite a part of the method, which sees computer-operated precision utilized in a while.”

The unique idea for the Peel chair has been round for a few years, however with consumer briefs taking precedence, Melia and his staff had had little likelihood to point out it off. The Milan showcase provided a possibility to point out it as a part of the studio’s providing – alongside initiatives that they’d created for different corporations, reminiscent of a reusable candle for Tesoro, and a stovetop for US electrification start-up, Impulse.

“I’ve been to all these reveals through the years, I imply, so a lot of them, and nothing’s fairly the identical,” Melia instructed Hypebeast in an interview forward of the studio’s exhibition. “Milan has this sort of ambiance that’s unmatchable. It appears like the whole metropolis is behind the design neighborhood, and their assist is intoxicating.”

Take a more in-depth take a look at the chair and course of above, and for extra design information – try this collaboration between Vitra, Herman Miller, Eames Workplace and Saul Steinberg’s property.