Designing one beautiful chair is a craft problem. Designing ten thousand identical ones is an engineering problem wearing a design brief.
Form studies with a load case attached
Every silhouette iteration carried a 1.3 kN seat load and a 300 N back load from the first week. Forms that could not carry it never made it to foam.
Formula
σ_max = M·c / I ≤ σ_yield / 2.0
Material and finish comparison
| Option | Weight | Unit cost | Lead time | Durability |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solid ash, oiled | 7.8 kg | Baseline | 6 wk | High, repairable |
| Bent ply, veneered | 6.1 kg | −18% | 8 wk | High |
| Powder-coated steel | 9.4 kg | −26% | 4 wk | Very high |
| Glass-filled nylon | 4.2 kg | −41% @ 10k | 16 wk tooling | Medium |
Frequently asked
How many physical prototypes?
Four. Two ergonomic mules, one structural, one appearance model for CMF sign-off.
