yunika.dk » Chairs

Softening the edges

tmk — Thu, 09 May 2013 09:25:55 +0000

One of my central ideas for the "Touch Me One" furniture series are the contrast between hard edges on the inside and very soft and smooth edges on the outside. I want the pieces to be tactile, delicious, beautiful and loveable. When I worked on the chair I chose to complete it as raw prototype without softened edges. Its main purpose was to let me see how the proportions work in real life. For the footrest the purpose has been to test shaping the soft edges and making a piece much closer to something real and finished. Soft meets hard In the process of planing the edges. One side A finished raw side of the footrest. The raw pieces All the raw finished pieces almost ready for glue and assembly. A little helper I made this little helper when I was cutting the dovetails - an adjustable ruler with screews allowing me to set it to a specific depth and just mark a line. I think it took 45 minutes to make and literally saved me more than 2 hours of measuring. Tool construction is an essential part of woodworking!

A systematic approach – design and templates for the footrest

tmk — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 20:00:27 +0000

When I was building my first chair I was amazed that I used a lot of time just measuring and drawing up each piece on the wood - and I didn't even know if the visual ideas would work out in live size. Inspired by my skills as a programmer and a logical thinker I set out to solve the task systematically and faster - without loosing the fun. Still sketching up the pieces in 1:10 and 1:5 on paper - but instead of drawing 1:1 sizes directly on the wood I drew it up on cardboard and cut the pieces. It allowed me to draw up the pieces on the wood much faster but also let me test the "shapes" and their harmony and composition without actually building it. I think it removed some "stress" from the building process as I didn't need to "run" towards the final product to see if it worked. Furthermore, it helps control the process while building - dividing it into smaller bits. Sketchbook, design and templates Template detail on cardboard Templates cut out Testing the shape

A dream fulfilled – Touch Me One / Chair prototype completed

tmk — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 23:41:16 +0000

I've completed my most ambitious dream as a woodworker so far - I have designed and built my own chair exactly as I wanted it! I consider it quite an achievement and I'm both proud and a little bit amazed that I actually made it. My girlfriend has almost taken over the Safari chair and uses it in our living room. So when I want to listen quietly to LP's in our bedroom I'm out of options - or was. Now I have my own chair - made of oak like the other furniture in the bedroom that I did a long time ago. When I started woodworking we started joking about me doing a chair and while looking through a magazine I stumbled upon one I really liked. The original idea was to make a copy but as time went on the chair became part of a bigger plan: If I am to be able to make a living, designing and making furniture I need to work systematically and I need to draw my works up on paper before building them.

So the chair is the first piece that I've done that is initially sketched up on paper and then drawn in 1:10 and 1:5 scale before building it.

I call it my "grounding with my Macbook chair" as it is low (close to the ground) and with a pretty straight up seat so its not a chair for falling a sleep. Yesterday and today I have been working on the footrest to accompany the chair. I've been in a bad mood and been feeling that it is kind of pointless, but its not - its a passion - and as I wrote yesterday, there is much work to be done and many lessons to be learned. The making of I've actually decided to make another post with the making of the chair. I've selected around 20 images - but I wont cheat you - below you can see a couple of selected images from the proces. The chair was built mostly during my easter vacation and my guess is that I've used 50-60 hours on it. I simply love it even though its a prototype for the "real one" that is to have much softer edges on all sides and seat made of another fabric. Clamping on the legs to test overall appearance Rounding of pieces of wood I'm very satisfied with the extended jaws that I did to complete these pieces. The problem is that its hard to get around with a plane in the regular vice jaws. These ones can be mounted in the "dog" on the workbench and takes the pieces up around 10 cm and lets me use the plane much more freely. Angled joint Inner dovetails while applying oil Done weaving and gluing on the back legs

Joining seat and back on my first chair design

tmk — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 20:40:24 +0000

I've been working on organizing my images and making stories in the right order, but today I realized that its upside down. I need to get the flow going and slowly build my back catalog afterwards. So here it is - a short but real post from today! I'm currently on vacation from work and my goal for the vacation has been two things - think about life and what I want (and I want a reboot) and build my first chair. Today I started joining the seat and back pieces and I'm quite satisfied. Its not perfect; but that's my slogan - imperfection guaranteed - and the overall shape and feel of chair is getting there and I love it already. Tomorrow I'm going to join the other side of the chair and I expect it to go a lot faster than today. I think I used 5-6 hours today doing these first joins and it was physically harder than I thought it would be. While I was doing the original designs on paper and in my head I was a little bit worried if the joins would be able to carry the weight of a person. But feeling the strength and solidity of the piece today removed all doubt. My first real design will be both able to carry the weight and its going to be beautiful and stylish!