Processing is an exploration in furniture design, fabrication, and visual analysis. The project was inspired by the process of computer-assisted design and fabrication, specifically related to 2-dimensional forms and materials. The specific shapes were created as cross-sectional drawings of pieces of 20th century furniture. These ‘slices’ were blended into one another using a set number of transitional shapes, thus creating a continuous piece of furniture.
Form was significantly determined by function, through creating an object that was both compelling at a human scale and a structure that would embrace bodily interaction. A system of spacers was developed to connect the lofted forms and provide horizontal stability and comfort. These spacers were arranged based on a set of aesthetic and structural rules, ultimately creating their own connective visual element.
A subsequent system was established to effieciently fabricate the final piece using a laser cutter with a printbed of only 18” x 32”. Processing was crafted out of over 5,000 unique birch plywood pieces that were glued and bolted together.
The accompanying digital sketches were considered under the classic architectural practice of perspective-less, idealized line drawing. All of the slices and all of the spacers were again traced and flattened onto a piece of paper.
Processing was installed in the Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University, after which it was on exhibit in the Usdan Campus Center. This project was the culmination of my undergraduate architecture and design studies. Because of it, I was honored with the Jessup Prize, “awarded to two undergraduates each year who are deemed to show the greatest talent and promise for even greater excellence in sculpture, printmaking, architecture, photography, painting, or drawing.“
Currently, Processing is on permanent display at the New Britain Museum of American Art, at their Pearl Street Gallery in Hartford, Connecticut.
