Teresa Chair
I’m a student in High School and this was the project I developed during my fourth year. I somehow managed to conduct an extensive research before starting the actual project and this led me to the creation of Teresa, my first chair ever.
I sketched some rough shapes. Basically all the stuff I had gathered during the study made me drawing some shapes rather than others. When I filled thw two pages of thumbnails I immeditaly crossed the one that would later become Teresa.
Concerning tha material was obvious using wood for both manufacturing and design itself, there are things plastic can’t do wood can’t do and so on. It seemed the correct choice for this kind of product; while the fabric for the upholostered was way more difficult to find. As someone said design is all about making decisions and I made some mistakes along the way but as long as you notice these mistakes there’s room to grow .. otherwise you’re just a follower.
Even though I would have preferred doing all the sketches by hand and modeling and mocking up the chair on the computer I had to do everything on paper. Every steps from figuring out the legs, arms and slope to applying the standard measures that a chair requires. After that you face the inconvient judgment of your manufacturer that inevitably overturns your way of thinking and that’s the issue. You still know what to do but you are told you can’t do in that way, then you start to match the dots and find a way out. Only with patience and thinking you can reach out the solution that ties everything together, a kind of glue.
Well I got featured on two galleries on Behance, which are AIGA (the professional association for design) and the Product Design Page always on Behance in the furniture design section. In that regard I did good, as long as you design something you make a prototype and you show all the images in a clear coincise way you can reach these kind of accomplishments. Now Teresa is on Faberin looking for a manufacturer to be sold worldwide I absolutely suggest every makers that reads this article to check that out.
I’m working on another chair but not for school as well as on other secrete projects and this experience taught me a lot in terms of money, production and development of something you draw on paper and can change as you move forward with the process.
I’m young and “sour” but I have a clear view of how and what design can do for bigger problems, I’ve never first— hand done something with it yet but I’m pretty sure that design thinking and the depth of knowledge that is required to designers can make a difference. I know it sounds silly I’m presenting a chair but that’s only the beginning.
For the full project (portfolio): https://www.behance.net/gallery/65910777/TERESA-chair-luxury-furniture
