Legless Chair

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Legless Chair

2016

430 x 482 x 435 (mm) | 16.9 x 19 x 17.1 (inch)

walnut and fabric

This Legless Chair design is a part of “Making Modern and Contemporary Korean Style Project.”

For historical reasons, the look of traditional Korean furniture has stalled at the pre-modern stage. Although modernizing Korean furniture design has been the most urgent task for many Korean designers, there hasn’t come out any design that earned the public approval and popularity. I locate the flaw in their contrived effort to make the designs look Korean, which turned out unnatural or boring to the public.

A paradigmatic style completely subverts the conventional one by catching up to the historical changes in technology, value system, etc. I worked with this design by referencing only the modern-day value system, technology, and needs, as I believed that not being too attached to the past was the most natural way to come up with the design of the new generation. I am Korean after all, so simply remaining faithful to who I am would naturally lead to the design that would look distinctly Korean.

I wanted to design this with a sense of firm support while keeping the body curve of the sitter from a side view appealing.

It was designed to be thick enough overall, rather than cutting away the materials as thin as possible. The armrest was placed only on one side so that the person could sit on the chair even in tight spaces.

In spite of the small size, I wanted this chair to look firm enough to support the sitter. In order to emphasize its upright quality, everything except the back of the chair is designed in straight lines.

Since the design may seem dull when the aprons are touching the floor, they were elevated a little bit.