Is a ten-minute video on the making of a chair worth your time? When it so beautifully demonstrates a balance of modern industrial process and handcrafting, we think so.
The Branca chair, inspired by the twists, turns, and seamless transitions of a tree branch, seems as if it were formed by nature. Evident in the video, making such a form is no simple task.
Sophisticated CNC mills slowly carve complex parts from wooden blocks. Skilled crafts people attend to the final shaping, hand finishing, and careful assembly. To realize Branca, both are necessary.
The result says Branca’s designer Sam Hecht is “Comfortable, not just to the eye, but to the body and the hands.”
“In the natural world, complexity thrives with reason,” says Sam Hecht of Industrial Facility. “Beauty is simply a result of constant growth.”
When designing the Branca chair for Mattiazzi, Hecht and his partner Kim Colin turned to nature. “In particular, the branches of a tree provided the critical analogy for the project.” Like a tree, the chair has elements that turn, twist, meet, and branch. “The different points may seem random but are all intentional.”
Carved from a single piece of wood, Branca pushes the notion of robotic craftsman. Using a combination of sophisticated CNC machining and traditional hand-shaping and finishing techniques, the simple design belies the complexity of its production.
The result is a chair that is comfortable to the eye and the body, light enough to carry and easy to stack.