Metaform 2003: 1 + 1 = 3

metaform 1+1=3 This article is about the metaform exhibition. For those of you that missed it, it is on at the Auckland Museum until September and then at the Dowse Museum. Hopefully, it will continue on its travel overseas, showcasing New Zealand creativity and innovation. metaform 2003 was a design competition to design furniture using a New Zealand developed, value added material. It is about the collision of two creative ideas – that of the scientist in developing a value-added product, and that of the designer in adding value to a new material.

The competition, and the exhibition would not have been possible without the considerable efforts of Locus Research, and in particular, Tim Allan. In conjunction with Carter Holt Harvey and the ever-supportive proDESIGN, not only was the competition possible, but also the excellent prototypes that form exhibition that is going on tour. Green Seal supplied all the timber for the models and the full size prototypes as part of the sponsorship and Auckland Museum hosted the exhibition and the launch.

This is a classic story of one plus one adding to significantly more than two. So what is it all about?

On the surface, it would appear to be an exhibition of furniture design. And a very good one it is too.

But, it is so much more. Let us start with the word metaform. The tag line that goes with this title is: environmental transformation, material and design.

Tim Allan, director of Locus Research has a strong passion for sustainable design, and this is brought through in the philosophy of the competition. The word ‘meta’ stands for change and transformation. The word ‘form’ stands for object or essence. The competition was about taking a value-added product, Green Seal, and producing pieces of furniture. The furniture had to embody some of the values inherent in the material, but also have an element of sustainability – an understanding of how we as humans use the furniture and also the impact the furniture has on the environment.

There are two great stories here about creativity and innovation. The first one is in the development of Green Seal – a product that starts off as Radiata Pine, grown in a sustainable manner in this country, and then through some clever processing transformed into a hardwood.

The second story is about design and form making – making an object that has functionality, ergonomics, and aesthetics, adding value to a material. The competition is about adding value to added value.

Creative Alchemy In 1985, the New Zealand Furniture Manufacturers’ Federation approached the Forestry Research Institute with a proposal and a challenge to ‘do’ something to the vast amount of Radiata Pine grown in this country to make it more of a useful timber for the furniture industry.

The initial brief was to try and make it behave more like Formica or MDF. Dr Robert Franich was the principal scientist on the project. He started off the challenge by redefining the brief – how to make Radiata Pine perform in totally different ways. He and his team started off by investigating all the technologies currently available (then) to transform wood.

They studied all the technical literature and all the patents worldwide. But. They did not just read the information, they actually practised each of the techniques. They immersed themselves in all the relevant processes to try and benchmark performance.

But nothing really worked. After two years of hard work, they went back to basics. Looking at nature, they looked at the fundamental principles that constituted the strength and stiffness in wood to try and get a fundamental understanding of cell structure. They kept coming back to

Pradeep Sharma

July 2003

metaform cellulose as contributing to the tensile strength of the material, and a cocktail of complex biomolecules as contributing to the compressive strength of the material.

This provided the inspiration for a new direction of research.

The end result, after considerable hard work and experimentation was the use of vacuum and pressure to get molecules through the cell walls. But ‘pushing’ complex bio-molecules through cell walls is not easy, and so a technique of ‘pushing’ small molecules through first was tried.

These small molecules do not resemble the complex bio-molecules at all, but they could be put in place far more easily. Once inside, a process to initiate the condensation of these molecules to form the complex bio-molecules is started. The artificial wood material starts to build inside the Radiata Pine.

In Dr Robert Franich’s words: POURING WOOD INTO WOOD! Sounds simple…..Now! What can Design add to this technology? “ I can’t help feeling disappointed about what’s happening in furniture design now. Too much is made that is transitory, and is designed and made for all the wrong reasons. Advertising and magazines are breeding a culture of discontent. People are made to feel that they must have something new and different for its own sake. To produce things which are merely new and not better is really evil…. Things should be made because they are better and with regard to the limited resources of the planet, so they should be reusable and long- lasting. But the main drive in magazines and on television – in those awful programmes about interior design – is for impermanence. People often think that mere newness is innovation, but it isn’t.”

Robin Day, Guardian, 13 March 1999 The challenge to the design community, students and professionals alike, was to ‘play’ with this material and see what forms would emerge. The brief was loosely based around items of furniture, but this was open to the creative interpretation of the individual.

The process for judging required the entrants to submit a scale model or drawing of the proposed design. The judges then interrogated these, first of all individually and then as a group. Judging criteria was enthusiastically discussed and a short list was made of designs that should go on to the next stage and be made into full-scale prototypes.

This is such a major step. This step requires a lot of commitment, and a fair amount of investment in both time and money. Each finalist from the shortlist provided a detailed cutting list and the appropriate Green Seal product, in the appropriate finish was sent out. This was no mean feat. You would be surprised how many people there are who have no idea what a cutting list is!

Also, imagine the forest of timber that had to be sent out and to such a variety of places – there were 37 finalists!

Logistics aside, each entrant then proceeded to develop and refine their proposals, which they then submitted to the judging panel. The judging panel comprised of interior designers, architects, product designers and furniture designers. And what fun we had!

The selection of entries, the scope of ideas, the range of manufacturing and construction technologies used, the conceptual development was just excellent.

The scientific design process that was followed in coming up with the product in the first place is very similar to the process the designers would have followed. A series of ideas turned into concepts, experimented with until the inspiration for the final design came and the prototypes made.

Pradeep Sharma

July 2003

metaform The judges were looking for a clear articulation of an idea – a concept well thought out, well developed and then well executed. The objects had to make use of the properties of the material, yet be useful. This is not such an easy task. Yet nearly all the entries demonstrated a strong strand of creativity.

Ideas everywhere.

The winner of the professional entry was Neal Smith with an extremely elegant piece, titled ‘PLANAR table’. This piece exploited the properties of Green Seal so well and allowed such a slim elegant form to be made. The execution of the model, in the first instance, and then the fullscale prototype was exquisitely handled. Neal Smith demonstrates a superbly delicate touch in his restraint in the styling of the table. There is a sensitivity of form that produces something beautiful to look at, yet sturdy and good to use. A fine balance.

The winner of the student category was James Whitta for his ‘LOGGE seat’. Once again, this piece was superbly presented both at model stage and then through to final prototype. It uses the properties of the material to superb effect to produce a seat that is dynamic in its functionality using the stiffness of the material. The elegant form is well thought through producing a visually exciting seat.

Choosing the winners was not an easy task. The judges decided that it was important to acknowledge the excellent standard of entries by presenting the following SPECIAL AWARDS: Simon Dearsley for ‘URBAN GRAZE’.

Nadia Michaelson for ‘UNDER CONSTRUCTION’.

But even that was not enough. The judges would like to also note the following HIGHLY COMMENDEDS: Nicholas Len for ‘LOOSE ENDS’.

Nathan Goldworthy for ‘NORDIC RHYTYM’.

Stu Barr for ‘CHIMERA’.

Congratulations to all the winners and all the finalists.

“I’m interested in the moment when two objects collide and generate a third.

The third object is where the interesting work is.”

Bruce Mau, Designer This is such an excellent body of work that it deserves to be taken to new audiences.

Audiences around the world.

This exhibition demonstrates, in a very explicit manner, CREATIVITY and INNOVATION at so many levels. New Zealand has commodity products, but boy, can we add value to them, and in so many ways.

A collision of two ideas, producing something else that may develop a life of its own.

Well done to all those involved. www.metaform.co.nz www.greenseal.co.nz www.locusresearch.com www.chh.com

Pradeep Sharma

July 2003