I’ve begun to redesign classic pieces of (mid-century) modern furniture as knockdown/flat pack items. The idea is to be fully functional and life size. I will post soon about the whole goal and ideas of the Knockdown Knockoff line, but, right now, after a LONG night, I want to revel in what I consider to be a very successful prototype.

Here are preliminary, pre-touch-up photos of the chair. I will eventually give this design away in the Downloadable Design section of this site and it may end up as an Open Design in/on the site of a company that I am putting together for a Spring 2010 launch.

Anyhow, here are the pics:

The design is made of 1″ birch plywood with aluminum and black melamine veneer. It uses cross dowels to hold it together. The canvas upholstery references the earliest versions of the LC4 chaise. Unlike the original, though, the canvas snaps to the frame here so that customer assembly is easier.

This prototype allowed me to explore a few things including CNCing ply with the veneer already applied, canvas seating, and CNC setup for cross dowels without secondary processes. Aside from sanding and finishing the wood edges with low VOC finish, the frame was ready to go off the CNC.

Please let me know your first impressions.