Kartell Chair Natural wood Wood. Dimensions: L 51 x Depth 55.5 cm x H
82 cm – Seat: L 42 x H 43.5 cm. The poetry of wooden embraces technology
… Kartell creates an event by including wooden in its catalogue for the first
time in its history! With the Smart Wood collection, Kartell and Philippe Starck
rise to a new challenge: working wooden with the same fluidity as composite
materials to give it a new look, full of finesse and curves. With its unique
moulded wooden shell, the Smart Wood collection combines timeless elegance,
contemporary shapes and perfect finishes. The curves and generous dimensions of
the shell provide excellent seating comfort. The amazing Ray and Charles Eames
were the first to experiment with moulding plywooden into complex shapes. More
than 50 years later, technological advances have enabled Kartell to offer even
more with less. This is the Smart Wood collection. Philippe Starck explains:
I wanted to create wooden seats using just a minimum of material. Twenty years
ago, you could bend wooden two centimetres, then five, six, and so on. I wanted
to bend it thirty-five centimetres… Each year, I gained another centimetre!
To launch the Smart Wood range, it was necessary to invent a technology that did
not exist. This feat was made possible thanks to a unique patented 3D technology
that produces a wooden curvature of extreme proportions. Moulded wooden adopts
incredible sinuous lines with enveloping curves, like an embrace that offers
total comfort. To reduce the cutting down of trees, the shell uses very little
material: just wooden residues. It’s made from ash nano-shavings glued in
nano-layers which are then laminated. Then, using machines that cut the wooden
in line, the wooden takes on the appearance of a kind of fabric that can be
deformed. For ten to fifteen minutes, the wood, now soft as silk, can be
moulded. As it dries, it stiffens and returns to the texture of wood. Inside the
moulded plywooden shell is a seat, made of wood, leather or plastic. The Smart
Wood family includes a chair and two matching armchairs with a footrest:
Kingwood, Queenwooden and Princesswood. Claudio Luti, president of Kartel,
explains: After years of research, we managed to work the wooden while
respecting the nobility of the material. Innovative technology has allowed us to
stay true to the industrial characteristics of Kartell's DNA. With the Smart
Wood collection, we changed the paradigm, so it’s no longer about using
wooden elements to build a structure, but bending the wooden so it turns into a
three-dimensional seat. We have been able to fully express the true essence of
wooden by combining industrial production, beauty, robustness, comfort and
flexibility into a single product. Inaugurating a new chapter in the
brand's history, the Smart Wood collection is an integral part of a major
project: Kartell Loves the Planet. The latter aims to promote all good practices
in terms of sustainability for a process of production and use of recyclable raw
materials with a low environmental impact.> Flash sale: special price for a
limited time only.
