Chairs
Prototype
Pressing process of flax/PLA composite

Bundle - a biobased chair

Navn
Kirstine Nørgaard Sejersen
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 Jón Hinrik Höskuldsson. 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.

Jón & 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.

Phase 1 and 2 - Material and form investigations 

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Breakdown of materials in composite
material samples
colour samples
Testing formability of different textiles
Investigating possibilities
Bamboo tooling used to produce a strength test
Tooling for form investigations
Breakdown of materials in composite
Finding optimal recipe
Colour testing
Testing formability of different textiles
Investigating possibilities
Bamboo tooling used to produce a strength test
Tooling for form investigations

Phase 3 - Designing a chair 

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Process
Process
Process
Process
Process
Ergonomic
Process
Process
Scale model sketching
Scale model
Printed sections of the chair
Printed sections of the chair
Cardboard mockups in the studio
Testing comfort
3D printed mockups
Selecting final colours

Phase 4 - Development and prototyping 

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Gluing bamboo floorboards into large blocs for milling
Process
Process
Bamboo tooling
Process
Press
Process
Cutting parts after pressing
Pressed parts ready to be cut to final shape
Gluing bamboo floorboards into large blocs for milling
CNC milling the tooling
Male tool for undershell
Bamboo tooling
Backrest in the press
Cutting parts after pressing
Pressed parts ready to be cut to final shape

Bundle

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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