This ready-to-assemble flat-pack furniture set is made from a single piece of plywood

Wooden furniture is naturally made from different pieces, and most of the time, those pieces are taken from different pieces of wood. Conventional manufacturing processes try to maximize materials, but those often still produce a lot of wasted wood pieces. Because of this, there has been a great deal of interest in designing products like furniture or even vehicles that use up almost every available inch of a sheet of material, minimizing wasted space and wasted material. Of course, it requires a bit of thinking outside the box to be able to utilize almost every surface of wood, cardboard, or metal and turn it into an actual usable product, like this three-piece furniture set that also applies that unconventional thinking to create a chair designed to lean backward.

Designer: Sheridan Kromann

Flat-pack furniture has become popular with people who want to economize on space or expenses, especially when it comes to shipping and assembly. Almost like those wooden puzzle pieces that require no special tools to form an animal or historic landmark, these ready-to-assemble products try to reduce the stress involved when assembling furniture. Of course, ready-made furniture delivered to your house will still be easier, but flat-packs at least don’t require screws or tools to put together. All you need is the ability to follow instructions.

Many flat-pack furniture also come with an implicit benefit. In most cases, the separate pieces can be cut out from a single sheet of material, often wood or fiberboard, which minimizes the wasted material. At first brush, that almost seems like the key feature of the Leaning Chair set, and it’s definitely an important one. All three members of the set are CNC cut from the same 4×8 piece of plywood, and while there are still areas of the sheet that are unused and probably discarded, it’s still a lot less wasteful than conventionally assembled furniture.

The set features a chair, an ottoman for your feet, and a side table to complete the setting. Like any flat-pack furniture, they can all be assembled without screws or tools. You don’t even need fasteners or glue to keep them together. Of course, some people might actually be wary of this kind of assembled furniture, especially chairs that look a bit unstable on their feet. The Leaning Chair, however, is specifically designed that way to prevent one of the most common accidents with chairs.

Some people try to lean back on their chairs and end up falling backward because typical legs aren’t designed to support that use case. This chair’s base, however, curves and extends backward, almost like a rocking chair, allowing the person to lean back safely and with confidence. Unlike a rocking chair, however, it doesn’t tilt forward, making it stand stably and still when you don’t want to lean back.

Admittedly, flat-pack furniture isn’t exactly the prettiest to look at unless you actually prefer that raw, puzzle-like aesthetic. Unfortunately, that same aesthetic might make people less comfortable and less confident in the stability of the products. Either way, the Leaning Chair furniture concept is yet another interesting example of conventions being stretched and broken to create designs that are not only efficient but also sustainable.

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Stack Collection offers raw yet refined contemporary furniture pieces and everyday objects

Stack Seat Stack Stool

The Stack Collection is something those in Nordic or Scandinavian aesthetics will truly love. Ezra Ardolino definitely knows how to utilize wood. Precisely for this project, sheets of plywood were used to create beautiful furniture pieces.

There are plenty of pieces to choose from, but the Stack Collection will be more known for the furniture items like the stool, seat, bench, and table. The process used to create the pieces is stack lamination, commonly used in furniture-making. The method is utilized to stack CNC-machined and laminated FSC certified Baltic Birch plywood sheets for this collection.

Designer: Ezra Ardolino

Stack Collection Stack Bench

The laminated sheets are transformed into a block that is then shaped into whatever form is needed to be made by 3D-re-machining. The furniture piece or object is then assembled and then given a smoother finish. The Stack product line also now includes smaller objects that are ready for everyday use.

Stack Collection Ezra Ardolino Stack Stool

Stack Mirror Stack Tray

Timbur, the Digital fabrication studio behind this project, has introduced additional entries. There is the Stack Mirror, a tabletop, Stack Bubble cabinet, and a tray. The laminated stack products were recently showcased at the Beige room of Tuleste Factory. The STACK was one of the three major exhibitions in the gallery during the NYC x DESIGN Festival.

Stack Exhibition

Designer Ezra Ardolino’s background in architecture has allowed him to explore the intersection of materiality, design, and even robotics. He tries to combine these elements as he reimagines the fabricated world. The series is a collection of wooden products that are sustainable and pleasant to look at.

Stack Cabinet

With new additions to the Stack Collection, we doubt if the people behind it will ever stop creating more pieces. There are so much more designs and pieces to try, but for now, we’ll admire these stack-laminated items from Timbur. The original collection only features a stool, seat, bench, and table. Now there are smaller pieces to choose from as the possibilities are endless.

Stack Collection Designer

Stack Collection Stack Seat

Stacking sheets of plywood seems complicated, but the result shows beautiful craftsmanship, although the process involves machines and robotics. The Stack series tells us how design and technology can go together and be used to make something beneficial, creative, and innovative. Timbur has always been dedicated to fabricating a more sustainable world. The laminated stack products have been designed to reduce material waste and use natural materials like wood. They have their original function and purpose, but they also serve as stunning sculptural pieces that can be left on their own for the world to admire.

Stack Collection Ezra Ardolino

Stack Collection Stack Tray

Stack Collection Stack Cabinet

Stack Collection Stack Tabletop

Stack Bench

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This folding chair is inspired by origami and can be literally hung like clothes on a hanger!

Chair designs are the first category designers are told to explore because it is simple and yet the smallest of tweaks can make it innovative. Also, let’s accept it – you never get tired of looking at new chair designs! It could be a new material, a bold shape, maybe it has a dual purpose or something like KERF – a space-saving chair that you can literally hang up like clothing!

It can be called a stool or a chair, but KERF gives the otherwise rigid object warmth and flexibility. You can literally put it on a hanger and store it like clothing in a wardrobe which makes it stand out from its counterparts. When needed, simply open the fold and you can get a setup ready for your guests in a few seconds.

The intention was to enrich plywood, make it flexible and fold it like it was paper for origami art. KERF has been designed for small living spaces and for practicality, it is perfect for those living in urban apartments or shared spaces. It reminds me of Japandi style furniture or Scandinavian home decor with its warm and minimal aesthetics.

The unique chair gets its name from the technique of kerfing – it is the method of bending plywood by patterned cutting. It is only good for doing it once to achieve the desired curvature, but not suitable for repetitive, long-term bending because that would cause the veneer layer to crack. The kerfing technique can be optimized for the CNC milling process to save production time and cost.

The mood board for the project shows bending plywood with kerfing, flat-pack laser cut furniture, folding chairs, and interlocking leather belts – all of these come together in the final design as details. The chair us.es kerfing, the hinges are made from leather, it can be compactly packed and it has an origami-like silhoutte.

To make sure it was durable yet flexible, Hamza decided to use thick leather instead of hinges. This detail lets KERF withstand repetitive bending cycles while the alternative hinge (leather) can outlast the traditional hinge making it a piece of furniture that stays with you in the long run (its moving-friendly too!). KERF is definitely a wonderful example of how chairs can be simple while still adding on to the existing form and function!

Designer: Hamza Bavčić