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Sofa_XXXX

Sofa
2011 (designed and made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This sofa was made by hand, solely using bamboo sticks joined by metal rings. The sofa's very simple construction allows it to expand and contract, to seat different numbers of people. Sofa_XXXX was designed by the Japanese designer Yuya Ushida as his graduation piece from the Eindhoven Design Academy. Ushida was inspired by the construction of structures like bridges and towers. The sofa's ingenious design relates to his background as a mechanical engineer. Its construction from simple interlocking parts drawns on a long-standing enthusiasm for Lego.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleSofa_XXXX
Materials and techniques
Bamboo sticks, joined with stainless steel rings and steel nuts and rivets
Brief description
Sofa_XXXX, designed and made by Yuya Ushida, 2011, bamboo chopsticks and stainless steel rings.
Physical description
Expanding sofa made from bamboo chopsticks and stainless steel rings. The sofa was made by hand, using seven simple elements interlocked in different combinations. These seven elements are: bamboo chopsticks cut to four different lengths, a metal ring, a rivet, a nut. Once the chopsticks had been cut to size, their edges were sanded. Three holes were then drilled into each stick - at top, end and middle. Two sticks of the same length were joined in an 'x' shape, with a rivet and nut holding them together through the central hole. Once four different sizes of bamboo 'x' had been made, these were joined to each other via stainless steel rings through the holes at top and bottom of the bamboo sticks. The use of stainless steel rings, and the fact that the sofa is entirely made up of flexible 'x' shapes, means that it can expand and contract to sit more or less people along its length.

The sofa is made of approximately 8000 bamboo sticks and 2000 rings. Each stick had to be cut, sanded and drilled individually. The sofa took three weeks to make and can seat three people or up to 210 kg.
Dimensions
  • Height: 98cm (When open)
  • Width: 183cm (When open)
  • Depth: 73 cm (When open)
Production typeArtist's proof
Credit line
Purchased by the Design Fund
Object history
Ushida made the first version of this sofa as his graduation piece from the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2011. This example is one of an edition of five, plus two artist's proof, which were commissioned from Ushida by Paris' Toolsgalerie in 2011. Protoypes were made by the Dutch manufacturer Ahrend for the production of a fibreglass-reinforced, polymide plastic, mass-produced version of the sofa. The sofa was not put into production, but Ahrend gave the V&A a stool version of the plastic edition in 2012 (W.7-2012).
Historical context
Yuya Ushida was born in 1975 in Nagoya, Japan. After completing a degree in mechanical engineering from Nagoya University, he worked at a furniture factory in Osaka. This sofa was made as his graduation piece from the Eindhoven Design Academy, in 2011. Having always lived in small places Ushida wanted to make a piece of furniture that would fit smaller spaces. In this contracting design, he was experimenting with his sofa's scale, size and relationship to space.

Ushida wanted to use bamboo for his sofa because it is a non-precious material that signifies everyday life and the domestic environment (as opposed to industrial materials, such as steel or aluminium). He had difficulty sourcing bamboo in Eindhoven, however, and ended up making the sofa using bamboo chopsticks – these were cheap and readily available, and of the perfect size and shape for his design. Each chopstick had to be individually cut to size and sanded before being used in the chair.
Production
Artist's proof No 1 (edition of 5, 2 artist proofs and one prototype)
Summary
This sofa was made by hand, solely using bamboo sticks joined by metal rings. The sofa's very simple construction allows it to expand and contract, to seat different numbers of people. Sofa_XXXX was designed by the Japanese designer Yuya Ushida as his graduation piece from the Eindhoven Design Academy. Ushida was inspired by the construction of structures like bridges and towers. The sofa's ingenious design relates to his background as a mechanical engineer. Its construction from simple interlocking parts drawns on a long-standing enthusiasm for Lego.
Collection
Accession number
W.16-2012

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Record createdSeptember 12, 2012
Record URL
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