ASPIRE’s Desires: loop de loop

Pedersen_Chairs_aerial

william pedersen designs
loop de loop

Architects have long considered the chair to be one of the greatest design challenges. It is a challenge I have always wanted to address. Five years ago I discovered a rusted steel bar lying buried in a field. It had been twisted and bent into a fluid shape. I brought it into my studio and began manipulating small diameter steel rods into playful shapes inspired by this found object. After much experimentation one shape emerged which seemed to hold the potential of becoming the frame of a chair. I had not set out to bring this about. It was a chance discovery. This fortuitous beginning, which I had stumbled upon, opened the door for me to join the architects Mark Stam, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Paulo Mendes da Rocha in the development begun by Stam, of the single line tubular chair. I hoped to make a step forward, one which created a closer integration of the primary components of this chair type; seat, back and frame.

The chairs are formed by taking a single loop of 5/8” high strength tubular steel and passing one end of the loop through the other. The seat and back of the chair are made of a non-elastic knit polyester fabric, which stretches through geometric deformation. Structurally, this stretching requires the frame to act in compression while the fabric acts in tension. The clarity of this symbiotic relationship between the compression part and the tension part generates the essence of the chair’s visual drama.

loopdeloop.us

Like what you see? Get it first with a subscription to ASPIRE Metro magazine!

No Comments Yet

Leave a Reply

aspire design and home is seeker and storyteller of the sublime in living. It is a global guide to in-depth and varied views of beauty and shelter that stirs imagination; that delights and inspires homeowners as well as art and design doyens. Collaborating with emergent and eminent architects, artisans, designers, developers and tastemakers, aspire creates captivating content that savors the subjects and transports with stunning imagery and clever, thought-provoking writing. Through lush and unique visuals and a fresh editorial lens, aspire explores what is new and undiscovered in art, interiors, design, culture, real estate, travel and more. aspire design and home is an international narrative and resource for all seeking the sublime.