Rigsbee

Taylor Scott Ross | Prof. Pierson | Summer 2014

A Brief Brief
Acquire the visual and technical skills essential to developing
and executing a design incorporating the
process of bent wood.
Strengthen problem-solving skills related to all levels of a
design project.
Design and fabricate a bent wood piece derived by a famous
design.
The Source
Chair by Marcel Breuer, 1921
This elegant dining chair combines bent wood and caning while
exhibiting a beautifully organic and modernistic profile.
Insights and Influences
1. Maintain aesthetic of bent wood legs.
2. Include some sort of soft furnishing.
3. Pursue an organic + geometric profile.
4. Have multiple but intentional functions.
Synthesis
The aim is to create a wood bent piece that commemorates
Breuers underappreciated chair design while reflecting my
own design style. This can be acheived by exploring the
various references to Breuers piece: the bent wood legs,
the emphasis on the profile, and the contrasting materials.
Through the ideation and concepting of the piece, the focus
was on sticking to these potential reference outcomes.
Concept Development
High Chair and two Bar Stools from left to right.
These were the sketches that were chosen to be
explored further in spatial sketch models.
Sketch Models
I chose to laser cut my parts for the sketch models from 1/4 plywood and then super glue
them together. A uniform appearance was created by spray painting them white.
Evaluation from left to right:
1. This bar stool turned out to be a strong candidate for further expansion due to its good lines. One consideration
was to remove the armrests because after fitting them to proper ergonomics, they no longer felt unified with the
rest of the chair.
2. After building the high chair model and favoring it over the other two, more consideration into the challenges of
designing for a child deterred me from further development (for now).
3. For this last bar stool, the sling feature prompted more issues than solved any design problems. However, the
shape of the stool back was something to use further.
A New Direction
After further evaluation of the bar stool sketch and model, it was mentioned that it would
be interesting to created a tube of fabric as opposed to the sling. While still retaining the
structural rib stretchers, this was the resolved sketch.
After testing comfortability of the mock up and even taking into Google
Sketchup, it was quickly determined that the size was too large, the form
too bulky, and the tube sling was not a good idea. It was at this moment
that I decided to do a wooden tube for the seat that I would then upholster.
Mock Up
In order to create a 1:1 scale mock up, I laser cut the parts from 3/4 plywood and double
stacked them with screws. The mock up was then assembled using screws and the sling
was sewn out of burlap.
July 29, 2014
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BETSY
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Taylor Scott Ross
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Concept Model
Taking it into Solidworks, I continued to flesh out the idea. With the idea of upholstery in
mind, I sampled various fabrics and selected three potential candidates. When it came down
to it, the white was a clear winner.
Various construction methods and joint types were explored in
the modeling process. Here can be seen the idea of having the
wooden tube with an upholstery slip cushion that wraps around.
Also pictured is an iteration that included having bent back legs
and a stool back.
Process
After developing a firm handle on the design, the objectives, and
various processes, it was time to move onto fabrication. The
following section will quickly outline various steps in the process to
creating the Rigsbee chair.
Before I could get into any semblance of part fabrication, there was a lot preliminary work
to be done. FIrst I created a two part jig from stacked MDF. From there I took a 8/4 poplar
board and cut it into 1/8 tapered strips to perform bent lamination. Before I could glue up
the strips, some initial steam bending was necessary to develop the proper bend.
After gluing up the leg, I matched its shape and curve with a milled + tapered leg. For the
seat tube, I bent panels of bending plywood with the assistance of the vacuum bag to create
two halves of the tube. After fixing blemishes and imperfections in the legs and tube, I
moved onto jointery. The tube was put together using biscuit joints.
After shaping the back leg to match the curve of the front leg, I was able to start cutting
mortis and tenons for that joint. I knew that this had to be a very strong joint that supported
most of the stress so double tenons were chosen to hold these together. This was also the
first time that the chair had come together in any fashion.
Now that the legs were assembled, I could take them on the router and shape them into the
soft round edges that I desired. These newly round edges created the sleek and nice profile
that was represented by Breuer.
With more pieces ready to be assembled, it was time to work on more joints. To connect
the leg to the tube, I cut down 3/16 steel threaded rod to be inset 1 in both the legs and
tube. This would create small but strong and effective points of contact. To connect the
stretchers to the legs, mortis and tenons were cut.
The final steps of building were coming together. The mortis and tenons were refined, holes
were bored into the tube, and then I glued it up. All assembled and ready to be sat on, the
stool had a light and delicate presence.
Following assembly some final refinements had to be made
before finishing the stool. Imperfections in the joints were
filled in with wood filler and the tops of the legs were shaped
to create a more comfortable grip.
The woodworking process of fabrication was a long and strenuous
one. It was something that I feared wouldnt get done, but it did and
Im very happy with the results. From here I was to sort of pass the
torch and work on getting it upholstered.
I called on the help of Fashion Design student and friend M.K. Baird to help get the cushion
together. First, the fabric was cut and then sewn together in a long tube like fashion.
Dimensioned and cut pieces of batting were then stuffed in the tube.
The finishing stitches seal up the tube and the button fasteneres were sewn on. The linen
cushion stretched around the tube created a soft and warm seat to rest upon. This marked
the end of the stool production.
The contours and organic profile presents a sleek and elegant stool to place at a desk,
bar, or even an easel. The tube acts as a storage container and the backs can hang things
as hooks do. Rigsbee is in homage to the bent wood classic that Breuer developed and
received little renown for.
Rigsbee
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Construction Documents
Wrapping Up
This design project and process has provided me with many insights and take aways to implement in further
explorations with bent wood and wood fabrication. Of these is the consideration of jig making. In my own
development this was a completely underestimated step. When it comes down to it, the jigs probably
included 50% of the work and I did not account for that time lapse in my preliminary scheduling.
A huge growing point for me in this project was actually time management. This strenuous workload
presented the feeling of sink or float and I chose to buckle down and float. Spending everyday all day
of the latter half of my summer was not how I anticipated spending it, but it was necessary and incredibly
satisfying.
Reflecting on the beginnings of this design project, it is clear that designing from a significant piece of
inspiration is a really beneficial tool to the ideation flowing. References to these pieces enhance the new
design and have the mood of a timeless classic.
Will I work with bending wood in the near future? That is to be determined because it is a very time
consuming and costly process but the results are incomparably beautiful.
I look forward to further studies in craftmanship and woodworking while looking at new and advanced
building techniques.