CO.STARTERS
Classroom Furniture

Developed as affordable classroom furniture for the community-based creative business incubator Co-Starters. Designed with cost in mind, many of the challenges for this project focused on the creative use of materials to meet the budget for a fledgling non-profit. Digitally manufactured prototypes were invaluable and allowed for rapid iteration in accurate production materials. This significantly reduced cost and development time.

Plywood was chosen as the primary structural material for the chairs. A variety of digital and traditional prototypes were explored, looking at assembly methods and ergonomics, ultimately focusing on a concept with a floating boxed seat pan reinforced with hardwood blocks.

After the initial prototyping, a curved thermoformed Corian backrest was introduced. This backrest offered some comfort to the otherwise planar chair and allowed for the addition of a handle. The seat pan was clad with matching white Formica to add durability and unite the all-white touch points of the chair. The feet of the chair were dipped in a black rubberized coating, matching the all-black assembly hardware.

This project was modeled in Rhino and produced on a 3-Axis CNC router table.
Table design by John Dixon.