CNC-machined hardwood
The result of an experimental four-month collaboration with an aerospace machinery manufacturer, the fluid form of Paul Loebach’s Shelf Space pushes the limits of wood engineering and advanced machining technology. There have been vast developments in the evolution of CNC-machining technology in the last thirty years, and this product applies sophisticated modern manufacturing techniques to a traditional renewable material.
Shelf Space is made from a stack lamination of solid wood, cut into shape using a multiaxis milling machine normally used for machining aerospace parts. The decorative form is inspired by the language of eighteenth-century woodworking and the shape—nearly impossible to create with conventional tools—is designed to broaden one’s expectations of what can be called “traditional.”
Three-dimensional computer modeling facilitated the design of a precise yet fluid form. Although it took months to perfect the programming of the complex tool path, due to the incredible power of the machinery each shelf can now be made in just twenty minutes.
Contact: Paul Loebach, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
For more information, see Transmaterial 3: A Catalog of Materials that Redefine our Physical Environment
