While Submaterial has often participated in the Design After Dark events benefiting the Design Council programs of the Denver Art Museum, we were very excited to be selected for the new Chaircuterie event. One hundred creatives were asked to craft 25 full-size chairs, 50 miniature chairs and 25 two-dimensional chair representations. It was a great opportunity to collaborate with talented Submaterial studio manager Joseph Bosque on a one-of-a-kind piece rather different from our usual work, and like most things at Submaterial it began with drawings followed by LOTS of cutting.
chaircuterie 2014
chaircuterie 2014
Our team of eleven was split into three groups; two groups were on framing and the other was responsible for accurately copying the architectural floor-plans onto the slab using blue chalk (you can call those blueprints!).
We were able to secure about 80% of the framing to the slab and completely finished copying the plans to the concrete.
chaircuterie 2014
chaircuterie 2014
Finally, it was time to get to the casting for which we selected a quick-setting concrete mix. As you can see, mixing is extremely serious.
chaircuterie 2014
chaircuterie 2014
It was torture waiting overnight for the concrete to set, but in the morning we were able to come in and get two of the three versions out of their molds. One version, which was complicated by having an array of aluminum tubes piercing the structure, proved especially difficult to clean up, even with the tiny brushes we were using.
chaircuterie 2014
chaircuterie 2014
Despite Joe’s valiant scrubbing, we decided the go with the simpler version for our Chaircuterie submission. The casting process was something new and fun for us, and had us thinking about future products and applications. Thanks to Chaircuterie for selecting our work!
chaircuterie 2014
This event supports AIGA Colorado mentorship programming and the Denver Art Museum’s Department of Architecture, Design and Graphics, steward of the AIGA Design Archives. This program is supported by Denver Arts & Venues Cultural Partner Program and the McNichols Civic Center Building.
