Positive mould of Bone Chaise, designed by Joris Laarman, 2006, laminated mdf and paint, unique

This 'plug' was used to make a mould for casting Joris Laarman's polyurethane resin Bone Chaise (W.15-2012). The plug is made from laminated sections of MDF. Each section is 3mm thick, they were cut to shape using a CNC (computer numerical control) milling machine. Once cut, the laminated layers were assembled by hand. The plug was painted, then coated in beeswax and a film. These outer coatings ensured that the epoxy clay, applied over the top of the plug as a mould, would be removable. The clay mould was formed in sections around this MDF plug. The final chair was then cast in the mould.

Purchased by the Design Fund

Joris Laarman graduated from the Eindhoven Design Academy in 2003. With his wife Anita Star, he established the studio Joris Laarman Lab in 2004. In the catalogue for a 2011 exhibition at the Kujke Gallery in Seoul, Laarman wrote "I call my work environment a lab because my team and I are always investigating. [...] we try to study and shape the future of design in collaboration with scientists, engineers, craftsmen and many other people. We experiment with new materials, production processes and concepts that can be precedents for the design of the future. You could say we make a sort of science fiction and then translate it into the real."

The Bone Chaise is part of a series of furniture which Laarman started in 2004. In his designs, Laarman was inspired by the research of the German academics Claus Mattheck and Lothar Hartzheim. Mattheck and Hartzheim created a computer algorithm that mimicked natural growth structures. Their research focussed on the ability of trees and bones to optimize their growth - adding material where strength is needed, but also removing material where unneccesary, without losing strength. In 1998 the German car manufacturer Adam Opel GmbH used this research to design a computer software programme for manufacturing a more efficient engine mount. Laarman collaborated with Adam Opel on the Bone furniture project, applying their software to furniture design.

This 'plug' was used to make the Bone Chaise Longue (W.15-2012). Constructed from laminated sections of MDF, the plug was the first step in making the chair. The laminations were cut and assembled by hand. Once it had been built, a layer of fiber-reinforced industrial epoxy clay was coated onto the outside of the plug. This clay hardened to form a mould, in which the final form of the chair was cast. This process was simplified in later pieces of 'Bone' furniture, where the moulds were digitally printed.

This 'plug' was used to make the mould for Joris Laarman's Bone Chaise (W.15-2012). The Bone Chaise is part of a range of 'Bone' furniture which the Dutch designer started work on in 2004. Laarman's designs mimic the growth patterns of bone - they are developed on the principle that material is added only where needed, and removed where unnecessary. Designed using a computer programme developed by the German car manufacturer Adam Opel GmbH, the placement and size of the chair's distinctive branching struts was determined by the amount of structural support needed to hold up the seat's elongated form.

This 'plug' is made from layers of MDF. Each layer was cut and shaped using a computer controlled milling system, these layers were then assembled by hand. Once built, the plug was painted and coated in beeswax. A layer of epoxy clay was applied to the outside of the plug, in sections. Once this clay hardened, it was removed from the plug to form a mould in which the final chair was cast. The plug demonstrates the complex combination of hand and computer processes involved in making early digital furniture.

W.14-2012