Pop Songs and Chair Design

I like “The Who” just fine, though I’m not a fanatic. But one thing I can’t stand is watching Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend both showboating on stage. It’s so distracting and weird. I don’t know where to focus and if feels like I’m eavesdropping on an arguement. Maybe it’s just me.

I think about this when designing, how can I make a strong choice at every turn but with a sense of visual harmony so the piece doesn’t have that jarring Daltrey/Townshend vibe.

It’s hard to do, especially to the new designer, to whom more often seems like more.

This week I am teaching a design class with the help of David Douyard. Flexing and developing design muscles with chairs is super inspiring and challenging. We start with brainstorming, drawing, models, more drawing, mockups, more drawing and finally start making up parts and processes.

These little models do lots of heavy lifting after the inital sketching

Another comparison that I make between design and music is to identify “the hook”. You know the hook from pop songs, it’s that moment you know and look forward to hearing. It’s the part that you most identify the song with, the pinnacle moment that everything builds towards. Chairs, or any design is no different. Usually the design process is chaotic and overly full, then it’s important to step back, decide which of the ideas the chair is “about” and tone down everything else and think in terms of harmonizing. Getting the other elements to quietly emphasize the “hook” is the art.

The bend is definitely the hook of this chair and needs to be just right

One technique is repetition of forms, but like cinnamon in a recipe, too much happens very fast. Each of the chairs being made this week have a strong “hook”.