Chair in A Week

Chair in a Week is an infamous assignment for Stanford’s ME263: The Chair. The prompt is simple: every student is offered two 8’ 2x4’s of Douglas Fir, and a half sheet of A-C grade plywood, and is told to come back in exactly one week with a refined and functional chair. My design for this prompt is entitled “Glu,” as the fundamental shape of the chair reflects a glucose (basic sugar) molecule in its most common configuration of a chair. The design inspiration comes from my background and interests in biology, married to my love of woodworking and making things.

The chair is, as mentioned above, made from two 2x4’s and a half sheet of A-C plywood. The joints are mitred and reinforced with dowels for strength, while the “slats” of the chair were attached using pre-drilled dowels for alignment. The chair was then sanded to 600 grit, and finished with linseed oil, followed by one more pass at 800 grit to lower the raised grain.

Chair in a Week was a wonderful way to test my ability to design under pressure, as well as improve my woodworking skills. I found the prompt to be exciting, and the short time period forced me to come up with a design quickly, and weigh potential manufacturing processes against the time it would take to complete them. I also enjoyed the concept of refining low grade material with a design that had to consider ergonomics, profile, and overall design aesthetic. Elevating such rough material into a refined chair was a fun exercise in subverting expectations.