Sidetable 1
2020
Sidetable 1 is the second in a series of pieces of active multi-functional furniture enabled through simple mechanization. This piece is designed to function as a side table, storage unit, piano keyboard base, and sit-stand desk with motion through only a single degree of freedom.
The wider ambition for these pieces is as a networked collection that is able to learn the user’s behaviour and make adjustments predictively in concert, facilitating meaningfully different configurations of the space with minimal input required from the user.
“a networked collection able to learn the user’s behaviour and make adjustments in concert”
Camaleonda ++
2020
Strongly drawn to Mario Bellini’s late 60’s design for the Camaleonda modular
sofa collection, and similarly strongly lacking the funds to purchase a vintage
example, I took on the task of reverse engineering the hidden tensile structure
that gives the sofa its elegant form and modular reconfigurability. Beyond this
tension network, Bellini has achieved an elegance in both subtle functional
details and design for manufacturing that I would never have understood without
making my own.
Camaleonda ++ borrows its “plus plus” from the 80’s full fat
approach to leather upholstery, leaving us with a design that might
respond to “what if de Sede had manufactured Bellini’s Camaleonda?”
This project was realized in our apartment’s common hallway based on
an inexpensive foam mattress, using marker pens, a bread knife,
punch kit, a particularly helpful chopstick, and a sewing machine,
keeping the budget comfortably under 1/50th of a vintage example.
