SPUTNIK Chair

I decided that with all of the interest in space tourism that it would be fun to return to the beginning with   Sputnik.  The chair is 5' tall and made of metallized plastic.  The seat is cut into the satellite reminiscent of 1970's egg chair.  

Hudson Jessica, Chair Design

New Mission of the Southwest Part I

4 x 3 1/2 x 3 feet.
This Chair is inspired by the Mission Style furniture of which is highly revered in the southwest. It takes the mission style chair and creates an urban feel with sophistication and pop, while not completely throwing the southwestern ascetic out the window. 
Natural bamboo where the pencil in the figure is, and recycled plastic where the black pen and pen hatching is. The sides and insides of the plastic part of the chair would have a gloss texture to it, while the back plastic part would have a brushed texture. The cushion of the chair would be wide enough for one to sit cross legged comfortably in. The arms of the chair would not reach up as arm rests but rather sit about as high as the seated individuals thigh. This placement would create a more relaxing and grounded sensation, as well as a floating sensation due to the openness of the front of the chair. The back of the chair encourages the sitter to sink into the cupped, hugging shape.The cushion would be available only in blue or turquoise, while the bamboo of the chair would be available in a brown stain or a white finish.
It would be sold at upscale and trendy furniture stores and priced around $500.

Concho Chair, Michelle Barreras

For this chair I decided to take the Southwestern style and combine it with a more modern shape of chair. I drew inspiration from conchos, which are often used in jewelry and accessories. The materials I wanted to be used in this chair are stainless steel and turquoise. I would want the top and back of this chair to be made using the same methods that are used to make conchos. 

Landscape Chair

Holiday, Megan

The Wedge Heel Stool:

This stool is made to look like a stacked wedge heel. The red back of the chair is to look like the back of a red high heeled shoe. The target audience is single women who live in their own urban apartments and like fashionable design.  It is made of light wood stacked, red leather, and an iron base that is inserted in the center of the wood base. This chair was inspired by heels and shows off the stereotypical women's love of shoes. It would be sold at stores like Target and Pier 1. It would be intended to be at a bar or a high rise table.

Lambright, Julia/ Chair

Mesa Chair

Inspired by the soft geometry of nature, the slightly asymmetrical structure of Mesa chair is designed to mimic the mountains prevalent in the American Southwest. The form is placed on two legs that are made of steel and then powder coated in a light ‘sand’ finish. In spite of being thin, the base of chair will support a lot of weight and allow an illusion and sensation of floating.

The seat of this chair is filled with polyurethane foam and available in leather and felt. Being paired with two-tone colors, this design is also offered in plain color, if you prefer clean, minimalistic look.

Dimensions:

Backrest Height – 20”

Overall Height – 39”

Backrest Width – 20”

Seat Depth – 18”

Seat Width – 20”

Outside Base Width – 40”

Peralta, Ashley: Chair Design

                                                           "Chile Lounge Chair"

    "Chile Lounge Chair" is a life size version of a chile. It is molded from colored, transparent, scratch-resistant acrylic (as pictured above). It's dimensions are 48"x30"x60" (L/W/H) and comes in red or green.
This solid chair has a playful approach on the popular red or green chile often used in the foods of the Hispanic culture as inspiration for the design. The acrylic material offers great lighting effects as it reflects surrounding light. It also gives the design a cartoon- or illustration-like image.

Harvey, Dustin - Chair Design

The Dream-Lounger
For my southwestern flavored chair design, I drew inspiration straight from Native American dreamcatchers.  The chair design is a bowled with the intricately woven net supporting the sitter, like a hammock of sorts.  This net allows for many different patterns and can be decorated with feathers, tassels, and other ornaments.  

The supporting frame is made entirely of steel tubing, with the upper section tightly woven with rope.  The upper and supporting steel rings measure 5 feet in diameter.  The netting itself will be a softer, nylon material rope.  These materials offer the most comfort while still being able to support an ample amount of weight.  This design is meant to attract southwestern styled consumers.  Those looking for a rustic piece to add to their collection.

 

My design takes a more conceptual approach in re-designing a Southwest style chair, making applicable to the contemporary world of design. What the style conveyed to me was incorporating nature into one’s home via furniture, with materials such as burled wood and decorations of wildlife scenes. What I have done is take Molesworth’s Club Chair and created a planter with it, so it will literally embody the surrounding wildlife by housing various wildflowers native to the Southwest. Inspired by Tokujin’s glass chairs, My chair takes the silhouette of the Molesworth chair and instead is made out of glass and is open at the headrest. Just as with the Club chair, I want to replicate the wood beams at each corner out of glass. To have a nice contrast these beams would be frosted glass, with the sides of the chair in clear glass. The southwest patterning is left out. So instead of the chair having a cushioned cover, it will be removed completely so the eye focuses on the chair itself and flowers within. It will conform to the original measurements of the Club chair, 35” high x 36” wide x 34” deep. It is meant to be a garden piece as a planter and seat. The flowers I have chosen to include grow vertically so they can come out the top of the chair and yet will not be too obtrusive when sitting. They will be included as packages of seeds in various combinations. The intended market includes the clientele of something like Stone Forest in Santa Fe. They specialize in creating and manufacturing stone art pieces for the home and garden, which include: fountains, sinks, bath tubs, sculpture and pottery for plants. My chair would be an addition to the ‘stone’ line as one of the only pieces made of glass. Flowers include: Redroot Buckwheat, Baneberry, Mariposa Lily, Wild Hollyhock, Morning Glories, Dragonhead, Shepards Purse, Cutleaf Coneflower, Woolly Mullein, Red columbine, Scarlet Penstemon, Pinesap, Stiped Coralroot Orchid, Skyrocket, Stream Orchid, Penstemon (several different varieties), Coralbells, Leather flower, Plains Larkspur, Giant Hyssop, Spike verbena, Canyon Bog Orchid

Lamb, Bree- Chair

"The Desert Lounger" embodies the openness and freedom of the American Southwest. Lie back and relax, soak up some sunshine or enjoy the unparalleled vistas and sunsets from the comfort of your outdoor southwest-inspired lounger.

Materials:
• Western Red Cedar; known for interesting grain patterns, lightweight and extreme durability
• Premium Transparent Weatherproofing Wood finish
• Cushion made from weather-resilient and fade-resistant fabric and stuffing
• Cushion available in 6 different colors

Dimensions: 78" long, 44" at highest point, 38" deep

Market:
• Upper middle class single family homes and boutique hotels/B & Bs wanting stylish, durable, unique outdoor furniture

Price: $275.00

Fox, Wendi: Chair design: Nested childs chair

 

 

 

 

This child's chair is made to conform to a childs size as they grow.  Each piece of the chair nests securely inside the one below it to create a highchair, a toddler's chair, a kids chair with a boost and finally a childs chair.  Each seat is removed as the child outgrows it until they are left with a beautiful wooden chair of their own.  This design was inspired by the millions of ugly highchairs that are thrown away after two years of use because the baby quickly outgrows it.

 

This chair is made with the child in mind and is designed so that the child may sit at a comfortable level with everyone else at the table. The booster seat which is made of a durable molded plastic is left open in the front so that the child may climb into their chair without assistance.  It also allows for a view of the wooden chair back.

 

The chair is reminicent of building blocks or nesting dolls.  The chair is made of wood while the stackable seats (and rungs) are made of a molded plastic.  The seats would all be made of the same material and be the same color.  The use of molded plastic makes the chair very easy to clean and would contrast nicely with the light wood material of the chair.  The consumer would have a choice of several popular colors including white to compliment the modern kitchen.  This chair is also affordable and retails for about $500.

Pearlman-Flores, Alexis-chair

I wanted to take elements both of southwestern and a contemporary aesthetic. Geometric shapes are very prevalent in southwestern design, I chose to incorporate that element into my design. The chair is made out of white frosted sintra plastic with a brushed but smooth texture. The seat of the chair has transparent triangles that light shines through, the triangles are on the back of the chair as well. The lights are led's powered by rechargeable batteries to avoid ugly cords but can also be plugged in if desired. 
Dimensions: height- 3 1/2', base- 1 1/2',  seat-1 1/2' across,



Inspiration:

Lisa Junge

This chair is a fusion of art nouveau craftsmanship and style with a modern shape and flare. It is meant to appeal to those who appreciate antique furniture but want something that feels a little more modern, something that will fit in with the contemporary furniture in their homes. I have chosen to take certain elements of the art nouveau movement that appealed to me: quality materials crafted carefully, an organic curved line, as well as decorative elements also inspired by natural feminine shapes, and simplified them to make them more relevant to modern tastes. The shape of the chair is inspired by modern furniture: more oval and sleek, but with a slight wingback reminiscent of older designs. The padding in the chair is also simplified and modern, made from soft micro-brushed twill and padded with memory foam for comfort, it slopes in a curve mimicking the outside of the chair and is ideal for reclining, or curling up with a book. The frame of the chair is made from mahogany planks that have been bent and shaped to form the chair and stained in a variety of colors coordinated with the upholstery.  The item will retail for $1,500-$2,000, and be offered in high end furniture retailers.

Bock, Casey Chair

Materials:

• Dark Oak

• Matte finish

• Cushions made from fine upholstery fabric

Market:

The target market for The Southwest Collection is upper middle class women who live in urban areas.  These women have been urbanized, but are nostalgic of the southwest.  The collection brings back the imagery of the southwest through the rich color palette, without the typically overbearing southwestern style.

Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn and Ethan Allen

Price: $750.00

Staley, Tammy --- BigSky Chair

                                  

The “BigSky” chair is designed for stargazing, and where better to take advantage of such astronomical opportunities than in the land of the big sky---New Mexico. The design is intended to embody a humorous, retro space-age ethos, referencing New Mexico’s popular historic association with UFO’s. The “BigSky” chair is constructed from molded post-consumer HDPE. It is strong, durable, and weather resistant. It rotates 360 degrees and reclines to 170 degrees. It is designed to hold an iPhone in its adjustable “arm” to provide for hands-free use of "celestial-body identification software" available as a free application for iPhone (SkyView) http://www.terminaleleven.com/skyview/iphone/. After a particular celestial-body has been located or identified, the arm can be retracted to its unobtrusive resting position at the right side of the chair body. The “BigSky” chair is available in both manual and solar powered, automated versions and comes in a silver (colored) smooth finish.
In the solar fitted version, the solar panel is located on the upper exterior chair back, with the wiring for the panel inconspicuously situated within the body of the chair itself during the molding process. Small battery packs would be located beneath the base of the unit.

See Diagram for dimensions.

Available to stargazing “geeks” through speciality mail order catalogs like Brookstone, Hammacher-Schlemmer or Skymall.

Price: $300.00 Manual version
          $800.00 Automatic version (with solar panel)

                        

                           Views from "BigSky" via SkyView on iPhone

 

McCarthy, Danny...Nu Santa Fe

     The "Nu Santa Fe" chair is the forerunner of the next generation of Southwest-Inspired furniture design. On the surface it appears to have broken with tradition, in actuality it remains closer to the forms and colors of our region prior to 1880 and the arrival of the railroad along with the tourism industry and the commodification of Native arts as souvenirs of the "exotic" New Mexico experience.
     The aim of this design is to re-imagine the traditional visual language of Pueblo architecture and textiles, incorporating these forms and colors in a new way, avoiding the clichees of the Santa Fe style while still acknowledging the rich design traditions of our region.  The shape is of our time, is not nostalgic nor is the chair's surface woven/embroidered with a traditional Pueblo or Navajo blanket pattern in a failed attempt at conveying authenticity.  The chair's bulkiness and round edges suggest the forms of Pueblo architecture, in this way the design holds its roots in the most pure structural forms of our region, yet the design is contemporary and fresh, avoiding the dreaded nostalgia of the Pueblo Revival style with which we are all too familiar.  The use of traditional colors in the absence of any traditional blanket designs allows the design to be liberated from the worn-out notion of adding traditional patterns to non-traditional objects, while still maintaining a visual connection with the past.
     The chair is available in a range of colors based on the primary dyes used in traditional Pueblo and Navajo textiles: Indigo, Chamisa(golden yellow), Cota(rust orange), Broom Snakeweed(bright yellow), and Cochineal (bright red-shown).
    Constructed with kiln-dried maple and a linen fabric covering.
    Dimensions: 31"x41"x36"
    Price: $439
 

Bustamante, Mark — Cabin Chair

When I think Southwestern furniture and Southwestern style, I think of my father. The home I grew up in was heavily influenced and decorated in a "Santa Fe" style, and since we lived in Santa Fe it seemed appropriate. The inspiration for this piece was naturally my father.

The Cabin Chair is meant to reflect the hunter and cowboy lifestyle that I feel reflects the Southwest. The chair itself is taken from a recognizable style of chairs but with some important updates to reflect Southwestern style.

The first noticeable change is the legs and support. The traditional burled wood style has been replaced by a coarse grain wood, shaped to resemble Elk antlers. The other noticeable change is the cow hide used to upholster the seat. Large copper buttons have added to the seat back.

The target market for this chair is primarily men who wish to reflect their hunter or cowboy lifestyle in their home. It would be a perfect compliment to other Southwestern inspired furniture.

Retail Price will be $500

Crocetto, Julia ~ Chair

Title:  Throne to Throne Outdoor Furniture

Materials: Molded Concrete made with Recycled Porcelain; can be blended with Organic Fibers. Blended concrete enables lightweight, graceful designs.

Dimensions:  Wide range – from small molded planters and modular chairs, to formed-in-place walls, fireplaces, and seating arrangements.

Function:  Custom-designed for maximum function and integration into your lifestyle.  Throne to Throne furniture is designed to be easily moved by a pallet jack. Hidden plugs at the base of the larger pieces disguise the slots for the forks of the pallet jack or forklift. Fiber-blended concrete is even lighter and easier to move.

Style & Color:  Natural or dyed colors are available. The shape can be made to blend with traditional curved adobe walls, period-inspired décor, or to create a modern, sleek environment. 

Decorative Elements:  The glazed portions of recycled porcelain can be used as tile for mosaic work, in large or small pieces. Choose your favorite colors or patterns from The Debris Series from Fireclay Tile for modular tile designs or custom mosaics. Other recycled aggregate can be used including recycled glass and bricks.

Cushions:  Custom cushions can be designed as part of your Throne to Throne Outdoor Furniture.  We also stock throw pillows and standard cushions that fit our modular designs. A wide range of colors and patterns are available, or let our artists create fabric designs just for you.  Choose from weather-resistant fabric or Renewable Wool, both are easy to maintain.

Market:  Outdoor living is synonymous with Southwestern Living. Throne to Throne Outdoor Furniture will appeal to anyone who desires to sit outside; from the single person who wants to enjoy the morning sun to entertainers who need seating for their patio or outdoor kitchen.

Pricing:  Prices start at $150 for a modular seat. We work with FreeCycle and local waste managers to keep old porcelain out of landfills. Please ask for your free quote.

More about Recycled-content Molded Concrete:

http://www.green-form.com/the-product

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/03/concrete-furniture.html

http://www.francescopassaniti.fr/site/catalogue-creations-compactconcrete

http://www.designboom.com/design/contemporary-concrete-furniture/