An Exhibit with Legs 80 in All

To complete his project to design and build an asymmetrical love-seat with an attached end table, University of Cincinnati industrial design senior Nate Giraitis, 28, of Providence, R.I., figures he visited more than two dozen Cincinnati restaurants – to collect their used wine corks.

Giraitis then color classified the corks according to the wine stains they carried. He used the corks to create an end table for his “Living in Zin(fandel)” love seat – the color from the stains was used to create the table’s mosaic design.

“The best part,” said Giraitis, “Is when the piece was first used as seating at a gathering I hosted. People asked if they should use a coaster for the end table. I said, ‘The entire table is one giant coaster.’”

The piece is just one of 20 chairs – combining craftsmanship, compactness, simplicity, asymmetry and humor – that will be on exhibit April 6-20, 2007, in the University Galleries on Sycamore, 628 Sycamore St., downtown.

The exhibit is the result of two design studio courses led by Tony Kawanari, professor of design, in the spring and summer of 2006 in which students in UC’s top-ranked industrial design program were challenged to not only design but build chairs incorporating the five design elements listed above. (Also helping to lead the summer studio was UC master of fine arts student Peter Chamberlain.)

The point of the exercise? “As a designer, you really understand the consequences of what you design if you are also forced to learn the manufacturing process and how the designed object is physically assembled. If I’d just had to draw this piece and not build it, I would never have known how my design needed to change because of the proportional adjustments needed to actually build it,” explained Giraitis, who not only collected and combined corks for an end table but constructed the frame from poplar and curly maple, sewed the cushion and researched foam paddings in order to provide for soft seating.

And while he cast the molds for the aluminum legs, he didn’t – in the end – pour the molten aluminum into those same molds to produce the legs of the loveseat. “Some things,” he explained, “Are better left to professionals.” (Giraitis had his aluminum poured at Reliable Casting on Spring Grove Ave.)

That actual construction was the best but also the most challenging part of the process, according to Giraitis. “It’s safe to say we were intimidated by this top-to-bottom construction process,” he admitted. “None of us were carpenters or well versed in sewing. We had to research, design and build, all within 10 weeks. In reality, the construction part was all done in the last three weeks of the quarter.” 

If wine corks seem a strange building material, consider “a moldable stone slab.” That’s how student Jed Farlow, 28, of Boston, described the material he used, DuPont Corian. It’s an acrylic laced with marble dust and a material frequently used for kitchen counters. And while it feels like stone, it’s actually a thermoplastic resin, which means it can be heated and then formed.

That’s just what Farlow did. Heating the substance to 400 degrees and shaping it into a sculptural chair. It took him five attempts. He stated, “The first four times, the Corian was too springy to fit in the mold right, so I reheated and re-molded it. The fifth time, I got it to work by using about thirty separate clamps and a really strong classmate.”

Similarly, Adam Feist, 30, of Anderson Township, designed three prototype stools before he was finally satisfied with what he terms his "modern contemporary meets art deco" piece. The piece is actually made of a stainless steel frame combined with high-density, composite wood that received a chrome plating of aluminum through a process called vacuum metalization. Then, to achieve the bright color, Feist sealed the piece with a clear coat of lacquer. He then applied five coats of transparent, pearl finish before mixing his own transparent green paint and appying about 15 coats of that paint to the stool in order to achieve just the right color value.

He explained, "I wanted a bright, eye-catching piece that would stand out. I envision the stool being used at a poolside bar in South Beach, the Caribbean or Vegas. It's for a fun atmosphere."

Though not every part of the process was fun for Feist. That's because the seemingly simple design of the stool is deceptive. In fact, fitting all the pieces together was no day at the beach. He stated, "It has a lot of complex angles. I must have drawn at least five or six versions in preparation, and then there were the three different prototypes."  

Given the intense commitment required by the project, it’s not surprising that the students have come to cherish the pieces. Giraitis recalled, “I went into the project determined that I was going to create a piece of furniture that I would not keep. I also resolved I was not going to make a huge piece of furniture that I’d end up lugging around for years. But that’s precisely what happened. The design process has a mind of its own.”

The exhibit will be on display April 6-20, 2007, at the University Galleries on Sycamore, 628 Sycamore St., downtown. Gallery hours are noon-5 p.m., Tuesday thru Friday, and noon-4 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, call 513-241-1400.