The Process of Designing a Beautiful Calla Lily-Inspired Chair

Hi, I’m Casey and I’m from the USA. During the 11-Day Design and Build Course in June, I took part in the Design and Carpentry workshop. Through the process, I created a chair inspired by the form of a flower.

I have had this recurring notion in many of my design projects of something opening up, resembling a flower. Two years ago, in my Master of Architecture program at Clemson University, I designed a textile school that was made of these individual forms stacking upon each other. These forms were influenced by the ruffles in a dress.

To make a physical model of this project, I 3D-printed each one of the ruffles out of clay, then stacked the ruffles to make a tower as a conceptual representation of my project. I thought each ruffle was beautiful on its own and had been wanting to bring them back for another project.

At Bamboo U, we could design whatever we wanted with the most amazing bamboo craftsmen. So, I thought it would be fun to design a chair inspired by these 3D-printed ruffles.

Related: Embracing Bamboo’s Natural Curves to Craft a Unique Bar Stool

The chair took visual inspiration from the forms I had made previously, and the concept took inspiration from a calla lily, an elegant flower that symbolizes rebirth and resurrection. I just graduated with my Master’s this past spring and, after completing the Bamboo U course, I moved to a big new city.

At this point in time, I very much felt like I was in the middle of a rebirth. Also, I thought it would be very comforting to sit inside a Calla Lily, like I was the pollen waiting for a bee to come find me.

Related: An Elegant Balcony Chair Made from Bamboo Rings

Building this Flower Chair out of bamboo was an awesome way to learn how to use bamboo splits, laminated bamboo, and bamboo poles. To begin, I started by making two circles from laminated Dendrocalamus Asper splits and using a third recycled circle from a previous project. Then, I sketched out my idea, drawing straight lines from one point of a curved line to another to measure the curve. Next, I hammered nails down based on those measurements to weave the splits in between for laminating. I formed four different splines (curved lines) to create the shape of the flower chair.

To make the seat, we added splits with the skin on them across one of the laminated circles and bamboo poles underneath for reinforcement. We created the curved outline with a very small split. Then, we grid shelled the petals of the flower chair and reinforced the chair’s structure with a reciprocal tower from the base to the seat of the chair.

Related: Crafting a Beautiful Indian-Inspired Punkah Fan

Once completed, I climbed into my flower chair and loved how I felt engulfed and sheltered by it. It did exactly what I wanted it to do!

I am very grateful to Bamboo U and the entire team of carpenters for helping me (and everyone else) bring our design ideas to life! It was a very cool experience working with bamboo to try and emulate a form a robot had previously made with clay. Thank you!

Want to craft your very own bamboo furniture? Join us in-person or online to bring your ideas to life with bamboo! CLICK HERE to enroll in a course today!