Students' steel chairs set to shine at the De Steel display in Stockholm
04.02.2014
The Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture takes part in the Stockholm Furniture Fair, this time presenting a series of stunning steel chairs.
First-year Furniture Design master's students designed and produced some twenty different steel chairs last autumn. The chrome-plated chairs will be on display at the De Steel stand - which was also designed by the students - in the Green House section, which showcases up-and-coming designers, at the Stockholm Furniture Fair, 4-8 February.
Students had to design and produce a prototype chair using thin steel tubing and steel wire. They approached the task with open minds and subsequently created a collection of metal chairs that are diverse in structure and design.
The students' end results are very close to the real world, though the purpose of the exercise was not just to produce attractive and functioning products.
‘A successful workshop and good technical equipment and facilities make it possible to develop and experiment with knowledge about materials, but at the same time students also develop their own design philosophies. The end result is design that stands out and attracts international interest,’ says furniture design professor Jouko Järvisalo.
An international group of sixteen students took the furniture design course. In addition to Finnish students, other students on the course came from Norway, Turkey, Brazil, Australia, the United States, Russia, Taiwan and Japan. The students were guided by Professor Jouko Järvisalo, Lecturer Martin Relander and Assistant Noora Liesimaa.
The dazzling chrome plating on the chairs was done as a business cooperation project by Arvo Piiroinen Oy in Salo.
The De Steel display will be at the Green House section of the Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, 4-8 February 2014.