Furniture is Sculpture – Using 3-D Printing in Design

I’ve been using 3-D printing when designing furniture for some time now. When I first began, it was considered fairly cutting edge and not too many in the industry were taking the risk. However, I’ve always been a little bit of a risk taker so when the opportunity to give 3-D printing in design presented itself back in 2014, I said “sign me up”!

Since that time, I’ve come to realize and understand the practicality of this process for both me, as the designer, and the client. 3-D in design allows the client to fully conceptualize the design of a custom piece of furniture from all aspects. Even the best quality rendering cannot provide the full effect of a custom piece.

As I make more and more use of 3-D in my furniture design, I’m learning that this technique is being used on large scale architectural projects. It’s an incredible way to create and present. In this video I talk about a specific sofa design that 3-D printing allowed me to do just that.

Because of 3-D printing I now see and present furniture as a form of sculpture. Here is a depiction of how I use 3-D printing for this wonderful curved-armed sofa.

Here’s How It’s Done

I start by drawing a rough sketch with dimensions. The arm slopes downward which was difficult to convey in my rough sketch.

My draftsperson interprets my rough drawing. In this stage I can maneuver the drawing in a program called MeshLab so I can see the sofa at all angles.

Once I finalize all aspects of the sofa, it is then put into the 3-D printing program. This step is complicated by the fact that the drawing is created from the inside out, using a completely different methodology.

And voila! My first 3-D printed object. This is about 8 inches long. I took this to my upholsterer’s framer and said: build this! The arms were complicated to explain and this model did that perfectly.

Here’s the frame raw. I was able to further draw – right onto the frame – a tweak to the arm curve. There’s still nothing like seeing the real thing.

The next step is to cover the frame in foam with hand-tied and worked springs and webbing. At this stage I brought in the client for a sit test; if we want to make the seat softer or firmer, or the back slightly different in pitch, this is the time to do that.

The Finished Sofa!