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Venus Natural Crystal Chair: Furniture That Grows

by Terri Potratz | October 9, 2008 at 09:47 am

792 views | 7 Recommendations | 5 comments

Designer Tokujin Yoshioka doesn't just build furniture, he grows it. One of the feature pieces in his upcoming Second Nature - Born of Memory: Thinking About the Future of Design exhibition is the Venus Natural Crystal Chair, made of natural crystals by a process which is partially directed by Yoshioka but ultimately up to nature. He uses a sponge-like polyester elastomer to craft the skeleton of the chair, which is submerged into a tank to grow crystals in and around the frame.

Seven other artists have been invited to take part in the Second Nature exhibition, chosen for their ability to "convey the mysterious power of nature and life," including Ross Lovegrove and the Campana Brothers.

Yoshioka explains his vision behind the joint exhibition:

I believe that a design is not something that is completed through being given a form, but rather something that is completed by the human heart. I also feel that incorporating the principles and movements of nature into ideas will become something important in future design. I am sometimes surprised at how people who have seen my space installations talk to me about them while seeming to superimpose these works on the natural phenomena that they themselves have experienced.

There have been other interesting natural furniture ideas cropping up within the design community over the past few years. Remember the sod couch? ReadyMade released DIY instructions on how to craft a lawn couch in your backyard with all organic materials. Or if an armchair is more your style, try the Terra Grass Armchair kit. How about Julian Lwin's biodegradable BioTube Bench, which transforms into a garden after sufficient elemental exposure? Or, if you're patient enough, you can grow your own wooden furniture from a custom shaped sapling.

Furniture constructed out of reclaimed materials has been all the rage for the past number of years as people adopt a more eco-minded perspective, but it would seem that as artists investigate new ways to break design barriers with projects like the Venus Chair, it's only a matter of time before our homes are filled with furniture that has a natural and organic life-span.

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theunderminer

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 11:55 on October 9th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I never heard of anything like that. Neat story!

mchawk

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 13:52 on October 11th, 2008

Terri Potratz, I like this story. It's good stuff.

Very cool, but it doesn't look too comfy

ici et autre part

at 02:36 on October 12th, 2008

The name of this Tokujin Yoshioka's paper seat is Honey-pop. Just "glassine paper" !

ici et autre part has contributed a photo to this story.

travis123 (not verified)

at 11:16 on April 6th, 2009

Using recycled materials to be more kind to our earth is a good idea however the manufacturing process it takes to recycle these products are still using energy. What is the answer and how can we be more creative in the design process all the while creating sustainable products? Japanese designer, Tokujin Yoshioka has developed a process where he uses a fiber structure submerged in a water bath that encourages the growth of crystals. Being guided by Yoshioka, the natural process begins to form the Venus crystal chair - a beautiful design created by nature.
The chair is “grown” in a tank as crystals form on a sponge-like substrate.

The Second Nature exhibition features work by Yoshioka as well as invited designers including Ross Lovegrove and the Campana Brothers.

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travis

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