Carbon fiber furniture collection
Prior to initiating a project, Giovanni Pagnotta always asks himself: If there were no rules, no limits, no budgets, if all that mattered were the truest, best design you could create, how would it manifest itself? In the case of his carbon fiber furniture collection, the high strength-to-weight ratio of the material allows for incredibly thin cross sections. In the words of Giovanni, “the old rules become warped; design becomes gesture, calligraphic, reduced to its lowest common denominator.”
Giovanni introduced the collection in 2002, calling it Prototype. The Prototype series demonstrates the extent to which a high-performance material can redefine process and aesthetics. The cornerstone piece, the Z5 chair, is constructed entirely of carbon fiber. The chair weighs approximately 14 pounds, and has been load-tested in excess of three thousand pounds with no indication of impending structural failure. It has a varying sectional thickness of less than 0.5 inches at its foot, and tapers to 0.13 inches at its seat back. The chair is constructed of layered plies of carbon fiber, and it has between 10 and 40 individual plies between its thinnest and thickest points.
Contact: Giovanni Pagnotta, Mamaroneck, New York, USA.
For more information, see Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials That Redefine our Physical Environment
