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Lightly Starched | Back to index page |  |
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| LIGHTLY STARCHED ONE SHAPE THAT DOES IT ALL CULMINATION OF EXPERIENCE When Orange22 took on an assignment from Design Within Reach to create a chair that would sell for under $120, the design lab drew from its experience servicing the mass market. In devising products for Elite, Orange22 has cultivated deep expertise in engineering and manufacturing techniques that drive costs down without sacrificing aesthetics. The ultra-thin chair for DWR, Lightly Starched, is the culmination of that experience. THE TAGLINE At the inception of every project, Antonioni clarifies his goals with a tagline that guides every subsequent step of the design process. In the case of Lightly Starched, Antonioni penned a challenge: “One shape that does it all.” From there, he began to explore materials. In order to achieve the crisp, fabric-like edges that the chair is named for, Lightly Starched will be made of either aluminum, plastic or fiberglass. PLAY THE GAME “In working with and bending these ultra-thin materials,” says Antonioni, “I’ve become fascinated with the fact that whenever you bend a structure, you’re doing two things. First, you’re adding strength. But with that same bend, you’re also providing comfort.” In this case, Antonioni set out to manipulate the structure as minimally as possible, making good on the promise to produce a single shape that does everything a chair needs to do. With that, the process of designing Lightly Starched has come to resemble a strategic game—as if Antonioni were a player who’s been allotted only a few moves to achieve an aesthetically beautiful, functional and affordable piece of furniture. The winner, then, is the design that uses the fewest moves to do so. Currently working its way up through DWR’s corporate evaluation process, Lightly Starched promises to be as playful as the process that drove it. + design + engineering + sourcing + prototyping
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