Raw Edges: Pleated Seating and Paper Trees

((jiří macek) The British studio Raw Edges (Shay Alkalay & Yael Mer) presents two extraordinary projects at Design Week in Milan – one project focuses on pleating and polyurethane; the other project allows trees to grow and move.

Raw Edges ranks among the most interesting British studios of the new wave. We have mentioned them in the context of Okay studio and its work for the British label of Established and Sons. However, their Design Week projects seem to open a new chapter for their creations. Unexpected combinations of materials, experimenting with the production process, as well as the desire to incorporate process in the form of the particular product, link the studio with those who strive to incorporate motion in contemporary design in the exact sense of the word. After all, the fact that the studio exhibits in Milan as a part of the Craft Punk Project under the wings of Design Miami, in addition to the prestigious gallery of Spazio Rossana Orlandi, is evidence of their quality work.

The Craft Punk exhibition, organized by Design Miami, presents their tabouret, the implementation of which included the process of pleating known from the world of fashion. In their case, pleating provided this non-elastic material with a much higher degree of elasticity. Even though the seat looks light and soft at first sight, it is filled with polyurethane foam with a surface consisting of Tyvek material made by DuPont. However, the combination of material and technology endows the leisure of sitting with a entirely new dimension, thanks to the intentionally simple and handicraft form of the whole tabouret.

The other project, implemented for Spazio Rossana Orlandi, emphasizes lightness and motion. The table knee, designed from wood-and-paper sandwich, includes an implementation of continuously moving paper trees that are driven by an electrical device hidden within the structure itself. The structure of the trees enables their diffusion, much like what happens within a real forest. Even though the paper forest is a sculpture of sorts, it endows the table with a specific lightness while appearing to be a living organism all at the same time.

Design Week Milan 2009

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