These 3D-printed chairs are a twist on midcentury classics

Every chair has its own set of DNA—its silhouette the result of aesthetic choices the designer programmed into the piece early on. It’s hard to mistake the soft curve and criss-crossed base of Eames molded plastic side chair. Or the encompassing depth of the Eero Saarinen Womb Chair.

Imagine, now, that those aesthetic genes were turned into mathematical models and then tweaked. That’s what you get with John Briscella’s newest line of 3D printed chairs, Continuum3.

The series pays tribute to the classic midcentury forms of designers like Eames and Saarinen, but there’s something distinctly different about the end result.

Each 3D-printed metal chair maintains the same overall shape of the classics, but through a generative design software Briscella was able to create patterns and cavities that highlight the process of fabrication.

Briscella’s chairs echo work from designers like Joris Laarman and companies like Autodesk, who are also exploring how classic design can be reinterpreted through algorithms and new fabrication technology.

Via: Designboom