Designing and Prototyping Your First Chair

Design and prototyping of your first chair

“Congratulations on reaching the end of the course! Thank you very much for taking this trip with us, we hope you have learned a lot and that you have enjoyed the experience as much as we did. Next, we are going to review the different phases to follow to develop the final project. In our case, we have chosen as the final project of the course the design of a wooden chair, whose functional prototype we have manufactured with the help of a craftsman. This will help us to promote our design. As we mentioned in Unit 5, nothing happens if you can't make the prototype with craftsmen. In this case, the final project will only consist of the design of your prototype and the models you build. Sketch First of all, you must choose what you want to prototype and with what materials. When you've decided, sketch the ideas freely. Let your creativity run wild and generate many sketches to have from which to choose.

Development of ideas Then develop the ideas you have sketched by adding details. Select the one you like the most. Plan of your chair Next, dimension and make the plan. You will have to work on the elevation, profile and plant of your chair. With only paper, pen, ruler, square and bevel you can do it as we saw in Unit 3 of the course. 1:10 scale model Once you've finished your chair plan, it's time to build your 1:10 scale model of your chair. As we explained in Unit 4 of the course, making this scale model will help you a lot to see what works and what does not work in the previous design that you have made. Real scale model After making the 1:10 scale model, test the different parts of your chair by building a full scale model. In this way, you can easily solve certain doubts that may have arisen about your design. So you can polish and improve it before having it manufactured. Bring your prototype to life Once the prototype is finished, and if you have the possibility, contact a local craftsman who will turn your design into a real object. In Unit 4 we explain what information you must provide them so that they can faithfully bring your project to life. When finished, photograph your design following the advice we gave you in Unit 5 to be able to share your chair with the world. Now share your final project with all of us by clicking on "Create your project". Remember to share both the final result of your chair and the steps that have led you to it; sketch, design, blueprint, mockups, etc. It would be great if you showed a picture of each step and added a brief explanation about what you have done in each one. So we can give you feedback. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact us through the forum. We will try our best to give feedback and resolve queries. We also want to encourage you to participate and give constructive feedback to the projects of others. We sure can help each other a lot! See you soon!”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final project Now we do come to the end of this Domestika course. Thank you very much for reaching the end. We chose as a final project the design of a wooden chair getting with our craftsman a functional prototype that will help us promote the design. You must choose what you want to prototype and with what materials. When you've decided, sketch the ideas freely. Then develop the ideas and select the best one. Next, size and make the plan. Then build your 1:10 scale model and when you have it ready, test the different parts of your chair by building your scale model. Once your prototype is...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Designing and Prototyping Your First Chair

• Level: Beginner
• 98% positive reviews (45)
• 1326 students
• 5 units
• 15 lessons (1h 57m)
• 12 downloads

• Category

  Design

• Areas

  Arts & Crafts, Furniture Design & Making, Industrial Design, Interior Design, Product Design