umu

With a flip, you can relax on Umu with your feet dangling or grounded. Its U-shaped design allows users to comfortably lean into the chair at various angles. All parts fit together by wood joints which allows users to easily assemble and disassemble the chair without tools.

Umu was inspired by the Tagalog word, umupo.

BRIEF: Using CNC milling equipment and other processes, design and manufacture a functional chair. Fasteners such as nails and screws are not allowed unless self-manufactured.

This project was developed in 2018 with Rebecca Hathaway at San Francisco State University.

MOOD BOARD

We collected various images that provided inspiration to our design process. Multi-functionality and compactibility were the leading motives for our design along with a naturalesque influence from the Philippine islands.

(from left to right)

A. A multi-functional table tray/seat. Designer unknown.

B. A beach hut in Coron, Palawan Philippines. The photograph captures the man-made hut beautifully blending in with its natural surroundings.

C. From Molo Design, a modular seating system made out of paper.

D. The aesthetic of this living room is where I imagined our design would fit in.

E. Tagbanua natives on a bamboo raft in Coron, Palawan Philippines. Albeit simple, it has a strong structural integrity for navigating through the island.

Here are a few concept sketches and models. We decided to play around with various forms and figures while still incorporating a sense of multi-functionality to the design. We then explored a few of these forms to understand how we could realistically produce these designs.

Two of the concept models were further explored and each had an aspect that would be included into the final design. From the left model, we liked that the chair could be flipped — accommodating various users with different heights so that their feet could comfortable lay on the floor. From the right model, we liked the idea of a simple slat design that would allow the user to easily build or take apart the chair without any tools.

Here is an animation illustrating the effortless assembly process and the orthographic views.