2 chairs
chair
Pressing process of flax/PLA material

Bundle - a biobased chair

Navn
Jon Hinrik Höskuldsson
Uddannelsesgrad
Kandidat
Fagfelt
Design
Institut
Bygningskunst og Design
Program
Furniture Design - Products, Materials and Contexts
År
2024
Udmærkelser
Grete Jalks legat

Bundle is the result of material-driven investigations of the potential of biobased composites in furniture design. The project was done in collaboration with Kirstine Sejersen. Through experimentation, we found a material composition and a set of design principles that allowed us to design a lightweight, mono-material chair. The chair is produced by thermo-pressing flax fibers and PLA into rigid shells.

Jon and Kirstine with Bundle
Kirstine Sejersen and Jón Hinrik Höskuldsson with Bundle

When starting this project our goal was to enhance the properties of plastic-based products while simultaneosly reducing their environmental impact. Specifically, we wanted to increase the aesthetic appeal of plastic products and use less material in their production, without losing strength and durability. This can be achieved by incorporating flax fibers into a plastic matrix. The plastic matrix is a PLA derived from cornstarch making the composite both 100% biobased and biodegradable.

Our project comprised of four key phases:    

    -    Experimentation to establish the ideal composition of the flax/PLA composite

    -    Form investigations to understand the materials  mechanical properties and to learn about possible ways of constructing products with the material

    -    A design process where we took our findings and implemented them in a monomaterial chair design 

   -    A development and prototyping phase where 1:1 prototypes of the design were produced.
 

Phases 1 and 2 - Material and form investigations

1
/7
Material breakdown
Material samples
Colour samples
Form investigations
Form investigations
tooling and pressed sample
Overview of prototype tooling
Breakdown of materials in composite
Finding optimal recipe
Colour tests
Testing formability of different textiles
investigating possibilities
Bamboo tooling used to produce a strength test
Tooling for form investigations

Phase 3 - Designing a chair

1
/8
Scale model sketches
Scale models
Printed sections of the chair
Printed sections of the chair
Cardboard mockups in the studio
Testing comfort
3d printed mockup and stool to test composite leg profile
Selecting final colours
Scale model sketches
Scale models
Printed sections of the chair
Printed sections of the chair
Cardboard mockups in the studio
Testing comfort
3d printed mockup next to stool used to test composite leg profile
Selecting final colours

Phase 4 - development and prototyping

1
/9
Gluing bamboo floorboards into large blocks for milling
CNC milling the tooling
Male tool for undershell
Bamboo tooling
Male tool for backrest
Female tool for backrest
Backrest in the press
Pressed parts ready to be cut to final shape
cutting parts after pressing
Gluing bamboo floorboards into large blocks for milling
CNC milling the tooling
Male tool for undershell
Bamboo tooling
Male tool for backrest
Female tool for backrest
Backrest in the press
Pressed parts ready to be cut to final shape
cutting parts after pressing

Bundle

2 chairs
.
close up of front leg
.
close up of backrest
.
2 chairs
.

Det Kongelige Akademi understøtter FN’s verdensmål

Siden 2017 har Det Kongelige Akademi arbejdet med FN’s verdensmål. Det afspejler sig i forskning, undervisning og afgangsprojekter. Dette projekt har forholdt sig til følgende FN-mål
Grete Jalks legat

Grete Jalks legat

Legatudvalget sagde: ”Deres viden om materialer, og deres måde at omsætte deres viden til form, er imponerende. Projektet udfordrer den konventionelle forståelse af møbelkonstruktion med stor respekt for funktionaliteten. Deres evne til at kunne stille spørgsmålstegn, redefinere og optimere design på nye bio-baserede materialers præmisser, gør det muligt for Kirstine og Jón, at løfte deres arbejde til et formmæssigt stærkt, nytænkende og innovativt resultat”.

CV