Submitted by: William Pedersen Design
Name: Loop de Loop

The chairs are formed by taking a single loop of 5/8″ high strength tubular steel and passing one end of the loop through the other.Architects have long considered the chair to be one of the greatest design challenges. It is a challenge I have always wanted to address.

The chairs are formed by taking a single loop of 5/8″ high strength tubular steel and passing one end of the loop through the other and the seat and back of the chair is made of a non-elastic knit polyester fabric, which stretches through geometric deformation. Structurally, this stretching requires the frame to act in compression while the fabric acts in tension. The clarity of this symbiotic relationship between the compression part and the tension part generates the essence of the chair’s visual drama.

CNC lateral benders make possible the complex geometry of the frame. The completion of the passing of one loop end thru the other creates an object with three points of support. A fourth point is generated by lifting the center of the lower loop creating two supporting points out of one. With these chairs I sought to create a synthesis of my visual sensibilities. They embody the playfulness of a dancer leaping into space or a runner poised at the starting block straining to explode into motion.