Wood Works
Upcycled Furniture - Biophilia (2022)
In a society that thrives on consumerism, furniture has evolved to become a vessel for fashion trends and social status. In doing so, the throwaway culture has reached its peak, leading to increasingly impersonal and unsustainable furniture designs. Wood Works, an upcycled stool, therefore aims to shed light on sustainable design practices in the furniture industry through the theme of Biophilia.
Nature’s Layers.
Wood Works is inspired by the Melaleuca, an endemic species otherwise known as the tea tree or paperbark, commonly associated with longevity, revitalisation and growth (Melaleuca Leucadendra Some Magnetic Island Plants, 2019). Drawing on the Melaleucas’ bark, which is heavily layered and has a distinct peeling texture, Wood Works is designed to mimic the revealing layers of the paperbark. Recycled parts of furniture such as old planks of timber are laminated using traditional joining methods to form a small stool, without the assistance of adhesives or metal components. By celebrating the found timbers’ original finished exterior in the final product, Wood Works makes a strong statement on traditional perspectives of old versus new.
Functions over Looks.
Inspired by Max Bill’s Ulm Stool from the Bauhaus movement (Bauhaus Movement, n.d.), Wood Works is a multifunctional furniture piece - it can be used as a traditional seating but also transformed into a side table, shelf or even a coffee table. Wood Works extracts the conventionally “in trend” aesthetics of minimalism and fuses it with sustainability through ethical means of production to ensure a low carbon footprint.
Consumerism VS Sustainability.
To position support beams at unusual positions, and urges users to think outside the box and break free from expectations imposed upon them by consumerist ideologies. It also references contemporary designers who contribute to the framework of sustainability. Wood Works aims to visually and physically provide an opportunity for the users to adore and appreciate the material that laid the very foundation of our modern world, thus, encouraging and inspiring them to cherish their own furniture at a domestic level.
