Thanks Michael and novialistiyani. Definitely enjoying the process of designing and fabricating. This has been the first DAAP quarter where I haven’t been also working part time so it’s been great to have the extra 25-30 hours a week to put into the project.
Coming up to the finish line. I got my chair and ottoman frames back from the powder coating place today, really happy with the finish. I wanted I slightly textured satin black and they got it pretty close.
Apologies for the massive delay! Life got really busy right after final crit!
Unfortunately the photo studio closed the day of the crit (of course) so I didn’t get a chance to get in and take some nice studio shots. But I did get a couple of the lounge chair (minus ottoman) before I had to fly out of Cincy.
I made a process video of the fabrication process:
I’m pretty happy with how everything turned out, there are a couple details that I need to add/change when I get back to from Boston in January. I am going to redo the upholstery and probably do two separate cushions. I originally liked the visual of a creased fold in the middle, but after a couple days of sitting on it, it all shifts around a bit too much and starts looking a little sloppy.
I am really happy with the comfort and ergonomics. I knew that if I was going to be keeping this thing around it needed to feel great to sit in for prolonged periods of time, and it really does especially with the ottoman.
Thanks again for the feedback throughout the process, I had a lot of fun with the fabrication process and got me thinking about what type of design process I want to go through for my senior thesis in January.
Back in Cincy, I’ve had some time over co-op to think about how I want to dial it in for my portfolio and reflect on the overall process/experience
Lew, I definitely should have listened to you, I’ve started playing around with brazing in the last week and it is amazing how little secondary work I have to do with the correct fit up. I probably would have still MIGed the large structural welds but the tiny connections were begging to be brazed. Lesson learned.
Overall the comfort of the chair is really nice I’ve spent a couple 2-3 hour stints on it reading. I’ve had a couple 250lbs plus people sit on it with no issues.
The upholstery was really shoddy, it was my first time upholstering something like this and working with leather that large and it showed. I put together a inspiration board over coop of what I wanted the new upholstery to look like: Tailored, tight, fitted, detailed.
I picked up a pair of NB NewSky shoes over co-op which are made from recycled PET felt which I was able to source. Fortunately it’s about a tenth the cost of leather so it gave me freedom to experiment. I just did a test cover for the ottoman, quilted felt top with a small leather tag that underneath has the serial number (or potentially some branding)
About to get going on the seat cushions in a similar style, any feedback crit would be great. I’m still on the fence about the execution of the leather tag. I like the idea but debating the scale and placement of the cushion. The other idea was to have a sewn on square of leather in the quilting
Dude, that’s lookin so much better! I really like the leather patch idea. The placement of that would be interesting to explore, like if you upholstered the main cushion maybe the leather could be where you’d contact the seat or backrest? It would wear differently over time too.
Pardon my upholstering ignorance, but how do you do the quilting effect? what causes the squares to loft like that, do you just pin them closer together as you sew?
Thanks guys. The quilting is two layers of felt sandwiching a layer of polyester batting. I draw the grid on the back side and stitch it all together. It’s a little unwieldy at times. Not sure if this is the official away to do it, I’m sure there are smarter/better ways.
Great work! Digging the tag man adds a nice bit of contrast I would say keep it, and if your not feeling it just flip the cushion. I d love to see some of the stitching process pics
Decided to move to a thicker 6 inch cushion versus the original 4 which was looking a little too wimpy, sewed up a quick test sans quilting on top, decided to move the leather tag to the side and run it in a french seam.
Will try to take some more sewing process shots when I start sewing the final covers.
maybe try testing some contrasting thread colors for the quilting. I think it could be cool and might add a little extra visual depth to the baffles.
Well…maybe a contrasting thread would want to match the base. Anyways, looks good.