Posts

Ramos & Bassols describe the design of the chair called Rama for Kristalia

We started the Rama project after doing some research in which we found that most wooden structure chairs were not stackable. Those that could be stacked After this idea we came up with the shell silhouette, trying to merge it with the back legs… obtaining a strong, characteristic seat after subtle modifications in the cutout. The result is a stackable chair with a clean, integrated wood leg structure. We realised the same premise could be applied to several different structures. So, a full family grew out of the initial idea, meeting the commercial requirements: a collection. We also liked the boldness of having two widths, two volumes defined by a single seat-back shell, coming from the need of covering the leg diameter in order to make it stackable. __ Our workflow usually starts with hand sketches or some sort of model that we work with manually. It is way more visible for us how the project will evolve. Precisely in this project, the initial models have been of utter importance later on. As Jordi said, we started with a two-level silhouette, this was letting us “hide” the rear legs. When a scale model has been defined, we start a CAD model as well as a 1:1 model. This is important to proof visually all dimensions, specially with chairs, where ergonomics are also important. After verifying the 1:1 model, we polish and elaborate further a CAD model. Then the CAD model is passed on to the producer, Kristalia, that starts the technical development. At this stage, double checking the ergonomics is mandatory. We try to always work with standard dimensions, but a working prototype is indeed a must. In this case, Kristalia built a working prototype, that helped us further refine dimensions and details until the final shape was obtained. __ We sent Kristalia a presentation with some graphics, concept art and a 3D, together with a text that explained why we thought the project was suitable for them. We really felt it was a Kristalia project. They got back to us shortly, a meeting was organised and everything has run smoothly since then! We really felt it was a Kristalia chair from the beginning: clean yet with a strong aesthetic and functional contribution. The final silhouette has a strong visual impact that we thought could fit in the Kristalia range.