CLICDINER chair delta bamboo
The CLICdiner chair is a manifestation of my personal values of modernity, with emphasis placed on multiplicity in terms of industrial reproduction, clarity of use and function, absence of decoration and an honesty in the material and technology. Sustainability is interwoven into every facet of THE CLICdiner chair.
Sustainable Material
Materially, THE CLICdiner chair defines current notions of sustainability. It is composed of bamboo harvested from a sustainable bamboo forest, where only the ripe shoots are collected and the rest of the forest is left to mature naturally. The chair is produced in a caramel colored, heat-treated bamboo plate material. Heat is applied to the material in order to caramelize the natural sugars within the bamboo, thus making it less appetizing for insects and mold. The final product requires no additional finishing, though wood oil can be applied for a more polished look.
I have chosen to work with plate material for the simple reason that it is a standard size, and therefore easy to transport. At the moment, ecological plate material is not as globally available as other, less-sustainable options. However, because the infrastructure is already in place to work with these dimensions, more wide-spread use of ecological materials will not require drastic changes to machinery or transportation methods.
Because of the flexibility inherent in the design and production method, THE CLICdiner chair has the potential to be made from a variety of plate materials. As technology progresses, I hope to one day make the THE CLICdiner chair out of plate material composed of organic bi-products and natural resins. I am currently experimenting with RESYSTA, a material made of rice chaff and a mineral oil based resin.
Sustainable Design
The CLICSYSTEM, the system of connections and joints used in the CLICFURNITURE, has been precisely designed to optimize on the elastic properties inherent in bamboo. Each component in THE CLICdiner chair simply snaps, or ‘clicks’ if you will, into the corresponding part, making the need for additional hardware (bolts, nails, screws, etc.) completely unnecessary. This keeps both the material use and the production process ecological and simple.
The balanced proportions of THE CLICdiner chair were developed to provide the most comfortable seating experience, but they also lend themselves to a sustainable approach regarding material use and waste. All of the chair’s components are designed for maximum yield per plate. Each chair consists of 5 separate parts – 2 identical sides, 2 identical parts for the seat and back, and one support beam. Because of the interchangeable nature of these parts, they are easy to replaced in the event of damage or wear. Furthermore, the same component for the seat and back is used in several of the other products in the CLICFURNITURE line – the CLICLOUNGER, a shelving system, and a side table.
Sustainable Production
The CLICdiner chair can be produced on any CNC mill, both locally and on a larger scale, depending on the demand. The chair originates from a digital file, meaning it can be transported electronically to any given production location world-wide. Because each produced chair easily breaks down into its separate, light-weight components, the energy used for local transportation and handling is greatly reduced.
Sustainable Future
In the future I imagine a fully digital line of furniture – where the customer simply purchases the digital file needed to manufacture the design of his or her choice, then walks into the closest CLICFURNITURE milling facility and picks up the finished piece on the spot. This ‘immaterialized’ product line would not only vastly reduce the material use and transportation, it would broaden the freedom and possibility of design.
