"Kela Armchair" is Sanning Arkitekter's entry to Arkipelago Stockholm's furniture workshop 2017-18, "Chairway to Heaven". Arkipelago Stockholm (the KTH Royal Institute of Technology instance of the overarching student organization of Sweden's architecture schools, Arkipelago) invited the contestants to design a chair made of birch wood and leather. We allowed ourselves to be inspired by the design of Aifos Step Stool – the first prototype of which, "Aifoskela Kitchen Ladder", was constructed during the previous year's workshop – and designed a fullsize armchair, related to but not identical to the design of its older little sister.

Below follows a number of images depicting the contest entry as well as the process behind it.

After having chosen a sketch to further develop, we constructed a 3D model of the design. We then made sure that the elements of the 3D model could be printed in 3D, and then did so on our Anet A8. Assembled and standing beside the model of Aifos Step Stool in the same scale (1:5), the two look more like cousins.

To achieve the soft curvature of the design we utilized steam bending and glue to force the thin laminas of birch wood into our template – made by nails hammered into a rigid board, on top of which the curvature of the 3D model was printed onto paper in a scale of 1:1.

Here the final curvature of the steam bent and glued lamina in shown.

Here are two sets of bent lamina glued together to form one unfinished element of the chair.

Here the chair has been completely assembled, with its imitation leather stretching between the two chair elements along two wooden bars – the upper one curved so as to be a more pleasant back rest.

The seating situation at school turned considerably more pleasant in an instant.

At last the armchair serves its true purpose.

Kela Armchair from a number of angles. This is the same series of images as the one introducing the post.