Outofstock are an international collective of designers working out of Singapore (Wendy Chua and Gabriel Tan), Spain (Sebastián Alberdi) and Argentina (Gustavo Maggio). Read the full profile in the current issue 08 of Habitus magazine – subscribe, or download the iPhone or iPad app now.
Here, we talk to Wendy Chua about the Naked Chair.
It’s a standard question, but we’ll ask it anyway; where did the idea for the
Naked Chair come from?
Designed during the recession, the idea was to be
frugal with materials and intelligent with logistics. Instead of an excessive
use of material to hide "ugly" structural details, we thought
stripping the design to its bare structure as a form of aesthetics is a better
way to go.
‘Flat
Pack’ – words synonymous with Ikea – is an important feature of this product;
why was this decision made?
We wanted to redefine flat-pack. We believe the
word can conjure up imagery of good material and good design as well.
I’m
assuming the name ‘Naked’ is significant, what does it mean and where did it
come from?
Naked refers to the stripping of superfluous expressive
designs to reveal the beauty of the structure.
Physcially,
the chair has a lot of different angles working together, was it a complicated
design to get right?
We have been working with Bolia DK who is the
producer of Naked chair and it does have its challenges. We have added a couple
of ribs to strengthen the cantilevered metal folds to increase its product
lifespan.
Generally
(if you can generalise) where do you find inspiration for your designs?
Anything from a traditional craft detail on an old
temple door to a poem that springs forth imageries!
Could
you tell us a little about how Outofstock operates, and how your international
approach works (are you all based in the one place)?
We are mainly based in Singapore and Barcelona,
Gustavo has recently joined us in the Asia office! We use skype and other
online business tools to communicate. We also meet up once a year in Europe for
a nice retreat.
Okay,
one for our readers; when you all actually manage to meet up in person, where
do you go for a coffee/meal/for entertainment? (’cause there’s always time for
play, right?)
The last time we were together, we had lunch on
the pebbled beach of Nice, enroute our roadtrip back to Barcelona from Milan.
(Thanks to the cancelled flights due to the Iceland volcano eruption.)
Where
can we buy the Naked Chair?
It will be available from Bolia DK soon. 🙂
Outofstock
outofstockdesign.com
