chris kujawski - industrial design

Bent Plywood Bench

The (a)sym bench is the result of an
intense ten week furniture design studio at
the University of Cincinnati.

The process undertaken to create the final
prototype was a rigorous one. Hundreds of
sketches were drawn and refined during
the first three weeks of the project.
Exploring different materials and
fabrication techniques was as critical as
considering the ergonomics and human
factors that go into the design of a seat.
The concept was critiqued through
increasing levels of refinement that
spanned from thumbnail sketching to
digital modeling in Alias and rendering in
Painter, to finally creating scale
maquettes to judge to concept's merits in
the round.

The bench concept was decided upon
and several full scale models were built to
judge seat height and depth. To create a
prototype I built a jig to bend 1/8th inch
birch plywood into the desired form and
outsourced some metalwork for the legs
and resin casting for the connector parts.
Below are images of the process, final
prototype and continued refinement.

The asymmetry of the bench is it's most
striking feature, it leads your eye through
and around the design in a dynamic way
uncharacteristic of a product that is
usually very static and stoic. The form
language is very heavily influenced by the
gracefulness of the bell curve and it is
reflected in many areas of the bench, most
notably the curves in the plywood, but also
in the hanging sling, planter and
connectors. The forms that are used serve
a functional value as well as an aesthetic
one. For example, the curve on the top
piece divides the space into one for sitting
and one that is a higher side table area, as
well as allowing the sling and planter to
hang freely. The curve on the bottom
provides a footrest or a spot to store and
display larger books. Finally, the planter
provides a visual highlight as well as an
organic element and an opportunity for
customization by the user.