Kartell Office chair Natural wood Wood. Dimensions: L 51 x Depth 60 cm x H
81 to 94 cm – Seat: H 39 to 52 cm. The Smart Wood family is growing with
the arrival of the office chair on wheels (adjustable height). 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 generous curves
and dimensions of the shell provide excellent seating comfort. The major figures
Ray and Charles Eames were the first to experiment with moulding plywooden into
complex shapes. More than 50 years later, technological advances have allowed
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. 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.
