Pythagoras
At this year's Bernhardt Design ICFF Studio, Northwards Design Studio will be launching Pythagoras, a production-ready prototype, and looking for a manufacturing partner to take the product to market.
Currently living and working in New Zealand, designer Chris Jackson was inspired by the distance products had to travel to the island, and the subsequent shipping costs that this added to imported products in both monetary terms, and in their carbon footprint.
Subsequently, Pythagoras has been designed to flat-pack to ship higher quantities in a reduced amount of space. The design is constructed from a single, repeated module, laser cut and folded from 2mm aluminium sheet, with a powder coat finish.
Pythagoras aims to question the pre-conceived notion and value of ‘flat pack' furniture, challenging the conventional aesthetic and traditional methods of assembly. The number of processes involved in production has been kept to a minimum, and costly, visible interventions such as welding and mechanical fixings have been avoided.
The problem of fixing the profiles has been addressed in two ways. First, a simple male/female locking mechanism folded into the top locates the three pieces together, giving a level surface. Second, located on each profile are two strips of 3M VHB tape, developed for use in the auto and aerospace industries. Once the three profiles are located, the backing of the tape is stripped back, and the profiles pressed together. The result is an invisible fixing, as strong as a weld, and the end user becoming a key part of the production process.
Conceived as a ‘raised surface', Pythagoras is the perfect height for a low stool or side table, the triangular shape designed to fit between awkward spaces left by arrangements of domestic furniture.
Due to the modular nature of the design, profiles can be finished pre-assembly enabling Pythagoras to be assembled in multi-colour ways.
For ICFF Studio, it will be shown in red, white and blue.
