Spiral Stool by Daisuke Nagatomo and Minnie Jan

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DI: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?

DNAMJ : We try to create a card board made structure that can carry human weight without using any glue nor hardware.

DI: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?

DNAMJ : We have created multiple prototype of Spiral Stool to figure out all details in order to achieve it self-assemblable. It was millimetre adjustments we needed to make to finalise the design.

DI: What are your future plans for this award winning design?

DNAMJ : Spiral Stool is already on Taiwanese market, but not yet international. We like to bring it to gain more oversea attentions.

DI: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?

DNAMJ : Spiral Stool was initiated at June, 2014. We made first prototype August, 2014. After while we tried a few more prototype to adjust, and finally April, 2015 we launched it in Taiwanese market.

DI: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?

DNAMJ : We have been working with cardboard material to create furniture, interior as well as self-standing structure. Especially with Spiral Stool, we try hard to make it able to place on market as competitive product.

DI: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?

DNAMJ : We have a paper manufacturing partner, which has been producing Spiral Stool in Taiwan. Currently we have been distributing it by ourselves in Taiwanese market.

DI: What made you design this particular type of work?

DNAMJ : We are interested in working with sustainable material such as recyclable and/or reusable. Cardboard material particularly is very interesting because of its cost performance and easy accessibility. We like the idea of making creative design with economical price, rather than going with very high end price.

DI: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?

DNAMJ : We are always keen to other designs work on paper or interesting material with new technologies.

DI: Who is the target customer for his design?

DNAMJ : We are targeting people who like designed item and have idea of sustainability.

DI: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?

DNAMJ : Spiral Stool is DIY cardboard furniture, which does not require any glue or hardware. The precision of detail is very unique and that make this design very special.

DI: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?

DNAMJ : The name is after the Spiral Pavilion we designed in 2014, which is also made with cardboard. Spiral Stool is specifically designed to place in the pavilion.

DI: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?

DNAMJ : We work with 3D computer modelling tool, such as Rhino 3D, and use cardboard CNC machine to produce prototype.

DI: What is the most unique aspect of your design?

DNAMJ : The fractal design is very special.

DI: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?

DNAMJ : We work with cardboard manufacturer in Taiwan.

DI: What is the role of technology in this particular design?

DNAMJ : We rely heavily on the 3D computer modelling technology to make sure the precision of detail.

DI: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?

DNAMJ : We did some market research for cardboard design product and what is the accessible range of product price we need to achieve.

DI: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?

DNAMJ : We had hard time figuring out the non-glued joint system. We have adjusted by millimetre scale to make it more tight and work.

DI: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?

DNAMJ : We like to expose our concept of creating furniture and thought design competition is always good platform.

DI: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?

DNAMJ : There is alway a lot to learn from each design project. Especially when we have hard time making sure it works. Spiral Stool is all about material property and utilising it to achieve structural strength.

DI: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?

DNAMJ : No, that is all.