Tuvan

I grew up in the small town of Diö where a factory called Gemla Fabrikers AB has been located for the past hundred years. They are the only company in Sweden that creates bentwood furniture today. This personal connection, combined with my interest in furniture design and manufacturing, led me to pursue this project.

After a study visit to the factory and meeting up with the factory manager, I set my brief. My goal was to create an armchair, inspired by Gemlas past and present products, and to combine new and old manufacturing processes.

By mixing CNC-milling and steam bending and taking inspiration from their chairs but primarily from their model Cattelin designed in 1948, the result is an armchair, combining all of it. The chair was designed with the hotel market in mind, to be placed in the lobby, lounge, or the hotel rooms.

The original plan was to make a complete wooden mockup in the desired material, ash. But due to the current situation, I instead focused more on working in VR and opted for methods that could be done at home.

The 1:1 mockup was 3D-printed in my home in 33 pieces and it weighs 560 grams.