Tool for Sitting

This is a chair I designed, prototyped and fabricated with my partner Emilia Tongson. It was the first design project I made using wood as a medium. The design highlight is that the units are movable for easy storage and multiple usage. I call it the Lantern because it’s opened state shapes like a lantern and has gaps that create beautiful shadows on its surroundings. A major hurdle that we encountered was designing the right joints between neighbor units that enable movements and offer stability. We ended up using a 0.5” thick black rope to “thread” the pieces together while using gaffer tape in between each unit to keep it stable. This is only a final working prototype because gaffer tape is not permanent enough to endure long-term use. Some improvements can be: finding an adhesive and elastic material to replace gaffer tape and make the patterns thinner for a lighter weight.