The PANTHER, New York 2010
The
Project gets his name from the poem The Panther
from Rainer Maria Rilke. These poem express and brings up an image that I’m
interested in.
“His
gaze those bars keep passing is so misted
With
tiredness, it can take in nothing more.
He
feels as though a thousand bars existed,
and
no more world beyond them before.
Those
supply-powerful paddings, turning there
in
the tiniest of circles, well might be
the
dance of forces round a center where
some
mighty will stands paralyticly.
Just
now and then the pupil’s noiseless shutter
is
lifted.— Then an image will indart,
down
through the limbs’ intensive stillness
flutter,
and end its being in the heart.”
Rainer
Maria Rilke
In design I’m not very interested in aspects
as to be comfortable or ergonomics, and what’s
the function of furniture or if furniture has to have any function at all
nowadays could be a long discussion. High heels are not comfortable dildos or brassieres are not exactly comfortable neither
and their function or their ergonomics aspects are more than dubious…in the
other hand are able to express or carry with other human conditions that a priory have the same or more importance than to be comfortable. Surprisingly at the end, this design is very
comfortable and looks like the ergonomics are good
The design was conceived as a family of 3
different furniture objects. 1 seat (couch) 3 seats (sofa) and a big chaise
long (daybed) that becomes a kind of open room. The design has been developed from
two prototypes the first has a metal structure that supports partially the wood
elements and the joints of the wood elements are finger-joints. The second
prototype eliminates the metal structure optimizing the original structural
concept and introduces metal joints saving material in the production.
(the
following definition correspond with the second prototype)
One 8’by 4’plywood board cut in 2’by 2’ modules joined with metal
finger joints and organized in 3 independent self-supporting wood elements. The
elements work structurally when is compressed to each other with nylon tightencable.