Initial ball point doodle of the chair idea that was inspired by a bind weed flower.

I actually designed this chair with woman specifically in mind. I did this as I wanted a chair that went well with an evening outfit. Something that would complement it and not steal the show. Though I wouldn't want a chair that only woman would want to sit in. 

At first I entertained the idea of a place to put ones elbow but rejected this idea.

Here we see an early version of the concept, it would later evolve quite a bit based on functionality and comfort. 

This early two tone concept would return in the final design as the part break up evolved for shipping reasons.

The SLA machine I'm using here provides a high level of resolution. 

A simple scale mannequin made from pipe cleaners is a fast and effective low cost tool.

The initial SLA revealed that the legs needed to move forward of the upper front edge to be more stable and not tippy when sat upon. I simply pushed on the front edge of the model with my finger to simulate getting up to descover this. 

Early ideas of how it could also be done with upholstery 

A wood and wicker version would later evolve in to a more viable options. 

2ILb EPS foam is used to make the first to working prototypes. The first reavealed the back to be too upright so I adjusted it for the second one though I adjusted it even further for the final production chair. 

The milling machine I was to use had a max height of 10" so the parts had to be carefully split up for ease of re-assembly.

I carefully sanded as much as I could before putting the fragile foam pieces togther. They would behave like the marrow of a bone once we had sprayed the chair with Urethane. 

Me sitting on the first of the prototypes. The shape gives it a natural mechanical advantage.

As is often the case time was tight and the first chair was to be ready in time for a pre booked photoshoot. The location, model and photographer all factor in. Unfortunately we had to shoot a barely dry chare that had only been sprayed for the shoot, it was later re sanded and re sprayed. A little Alias and photoshop on the far leg can be seen, this is to hide areas that showed we had yet to sand the chair. We at least saved the shoot from being an utter waste of time and money. 

The booth is very simple and was built in Alias as a plan to help set up the booth for the interior design show in Toronto.

Speaking with an architect about the concept of the chair. 

This Yoga expert found it to be very comfortable, though I still felt it was too upright for the average person so I change the angle in the final production chair. 

The CAD for the chair comes from a single surface. This helps mainatin the reflections and enable fast modifcation. 

Early exploration of a 40' shipping container revealed just how impractical the solid chair is for shipping. Unit costs would go through the roof. 

The shipping issue gave birth to a much more effective manner of production and enabled us to offer more in the way of colour variations. 

Rendering of the final design. 

The rear spine was added for strength and added some interest to the form. I treated this area in the same manner as I would leading up to the wheel arch of a car so that it is possible to create reflections that touch off of each other as one moves around the chair. 

Drafts and de moulding the parts had to be checked with the movement of de moulding in mind. UNfortunately I have no knowledge of any draft tools that enable a curved path for evaluation. Having parts lock in moulds that come from an expensive machine master would be a disaster. 

As it happens the company that had promised to machine the parts as single pieces split one of the parts and assembled it. This caused no end of trouble and ultimately lead to the project sitting on ice as the cost was too great to fix at this time. The lesson here being that one should either have a contract dictating exactly what will happen even at the manufacturing level, and be present if possible. Unfortunately I was working on a race car in order to pay the bills so I didn't get to see this mistake happen. 

Me trying to fix the issue of fitting the parts together once it became apparent that we'd made moulds from masters that aren't perfect. This is a classic case where the designer better be ready to roll up the sleeves and get to work as the company making the chairs needed things to run smoothly if we would be making large numbers of them. 

This image show how the forces are distributed throughout the arcs of the underside. 

In two directions the arcs enable the design to be optimal with regards to material thickness. 

The first production chair out for a shoot. 

Currently I have this chair and an entire line sitting waiting to either move forward or sell. The chair is protected though the rest of the line isn't hence why I can only show this chair. 

As part of a the collection I designed a stackable chair . 

The form of the Prana chair lends itself to a love seat version of the chair. 

This version of the chair is yet to be built though I look forward to the day that I will. 

A synthetic wicker version would make for a lower cost higher volume solution to go with the composite indoor/outdoor chair.

Given that I'd be using synthetics I could explore new colours......a twist on an old theme. 

A love seat can also be derived to complete the set. 

I designed the company logo based on the signature chair. I literally lifted the curves from the chair and used these in Alias to create the logo.