Truly one-of-a-kind.

In 2015 I designed a molded plywood lounge chair and, for two years, kept thinking about how to apply what I had learned to a sofa. I knew a sofa presented a much more difficult challenge but it seemed like a fun opportunity to test my design and engineering skills. And if successful, I knew it would be one-of-a-kind. That’s because conventional plywood molding techniques aren’t suitable for large furniture pieces. Large pieces are either prohibitively expensive to produce or require industrial-grade machinery that most studios and DIYers don’t have access to. So if this project was successful, it had the potential to spark a revolution in handmade plywood furniture.

A warm statement piece.

My primary goal was for this sofa to feel warm and approachable. I wanted it to look modern and organic but still be incredibly comfortable. After all, the purpose of a sofa is for relaxation, so a well designed sofa must actually invite the user to relax on it. My primary inspiration for the design came from the Barcelona Chair and Eames Lounge Chair. Both of these are iconic in their modern design language and really invite people to approach them. When looking at them it’s clear that careful thought and craftsmanship went into their design. They give off a sense of “high design” and truly embody the feeling that I wanted my sofa to invoke. I knew that there was a lot of potential to achieve this feeling by combining rich brown and cognac hues with leather and plywood. If done right, it should all come together into a warm, approachable statement piece.

Modern and understated.

I started with the same basic design as my lounge chair. The chair had many elements that I liked but it was far from perfect. Most notably the proportions and the shape of the backrest needed refinement. With this in mind, I explored various designs while honing in on the final proportions. Since upholstery was a new territory for me, I ended up exploring a lot of tufting pattern options. I eventually refined the upholstery to an understated diamond tufted pattern in a rich brown leather. The final proportions and leatherwork really came together to give the sofa a warm and modern feel.

How do you mold a rigid material?

While bending plywood isn’t a new process, bending large sections of plywood is very difficult without industrial machinery. This is due to three underlying problems: cost, application pressure, and accuracy. Thanks to my background in mechanical engineering and materials science, I was able to understand the root cause of these factors and devise solutions to make this project possible.

With these three constraints in mind, I established the following principles for molding large sections of plywood accurately, inexpensively, and without special machinery. These four principles should make molding plywood accessible to designers of all levels.

1

Use the thinnest tri-ply you can find. This will be significantly cheaper than using individual veneers while still allowing for tight bends and minimizing both application pressure and “springback”.

2

Soak the plys for 12 hours and allow them to dry in the mold. This helps the fibers relax so you can create a tighter bend and also reduces the residual stress in the wood, meaning less “springback”.

3

Use a paint roller to quickly and evenly apply Titebond II wood glue between the plys. This will give you enough time to mold large sections before the glue starts to cure. This glue is also non-toxic, inexpensive, and easy to clean up.

4

Use a series of wooden strips to clamp the plys over the mold. This requires A LOT of clamps but it concentrates the clamping pressure into a smaller area and makes it possible to bend wider sections by hand. It also greatly reduces the cost of making a mold.

Craftsmanship is key.

I spent 8 months of on-and-off work in my free time building this sofa. Over the course of the build I learned new skills related to custom upholstery and also refined my attention to craftsmanship. While creating something of this scale by hand does require hundreds of man-hours, there is a lot of opportunity to streamline the process. I believe any furniture design studio would be able to build upon my process and tweak it for small-scale production runs. It’s just a matter of coordinating the molding so each component gets made in parallel.