Metaform Catalogue

Green Seal Sustainable Timber Technology

The judges who selected the exhibited works and awards represent a wide range of design and architectural experience so ensured we had a balanced panel. They were as follows; Humphrey Ikin: Award winning designer/maker with an international reputation.

Mark Pennington: Design Director of Formway Furniture and a widely respected industrial designer both in New Zealand and abroad.

Pete Bossley: A renowned New Zealand architect and founder of Bossley Architects.

Tim Miller: Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design (Victoria School of Architecture and Design) and innovative furniture designer.

Pradeep Sharma: Course Director of the Master of Design Management at Unitec and a great exponent of design methodology and creative management.

Organiser & Convenor: Timothy Allan - Locus Research Organising Committee: Timothy Allan (Locus Research), Mark Smith (CHH), Robin Beckett & Steve Bohling (AGM Publishing)

http://www.greenseal.co.nz

Sustainable Design & Development

The Metaform design competition and exhibition aims to increase public awareness of sustainability in furniture and the value of using innovative, environmentally friendly materials.

Metaform will challenge creative designers to produce works of art that use these materials in an enlightened fashion. The exhibition profiles New Zealand technology and design working together to create extraordinary concepts and designs. It provides a forum for New Zealand s designers and furniture makers to interact with the public and a chance to be part of an exhibition with a positive environmental message.

The competition was open to both students and professionals from all walks of life. There were over 120 proposals received, 38 of these were materialised and exhibited.

locusresearch

Meta means to transform, a change or transformation, a highly organised or specialised form of the art. The Metaform design competition and exhibition is derived from this idea of transformation. Metaform encapsulates the idea of designing with nature s system of transformation and renewal in mind. As designers and craftspeople we need to help the process of environmental renewal through choosing materials that are renewable and sustainable.

Metaform also endorses the great potential of New Zealand s furniture craftspeople and designers and their ability to transcend traditional boundaries with their art form.

http://www.metaform.co.nz

In the broadest sense, Metaform was an opportunity for us to engage a new material that had been researched and developed in New Zealand. It was an opportunity to take this technology, investigate it and really question what design could add to this technology. That s something we should be doing more of in New Zealand we re very good at just exporting the raw materials, rather than creating a finished product.

Before 1985: Since the 1940s New Zealand has established international benchmarks in forestry by planting trees and intensively managing them to create an abundant, sustainable plantation resource.

Through their research, they tried to understand what represented compressive strength in wood. After establishing that this was the cellulose in the cell wall, they experimented with different substances, to see what could recreate it. The search was for a particular cellulose-based molecule derived from natural materials, which would be effectively like pouring wood into wood . The key to being able to use this was finding a molecule small enough to fit through the extremely fine cells of wood.

We used everything from full digital technology and CNC machining through to the love and care of traditional handcraft in the finest detail.

The PROJECT: Although techniques to make wood harder did exist, they were complicated, expensive and the resulting wood product was difficult to work with. They also used mainly fossil fuel derived materials to change the properties of the material (unsustainable).

The PROBLEM: Although the plantation trees were ideal for house framing, decking and a myriad of other value-added products, the main plantation tree (Pinus Radiata) was considered too soft, unstable and variable for high quality furniture manufacture. This prompted the Furniture Association of New Zealand (FANZ) to approach the government owned Crown Research Institute, Forest Research, to develop a solution. This resulting project was led by Dr Robert Franich.

(Forest Research is a Government-owned Crown Research Institute. It provides expertise, technology and research services to the international forest and forest products sector.)

Eventually, the research team found that a combination of melamine resin as a lignin analogue, and maltodextrin (derived from maize starch) as a hemicellulose analogue would achieve this.

The BRIEF: was to make plantation Pinus Radiata perform as well as a Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) with a veneer. Effectively, Forest Research was asked to make the timber stronger, harder, and more stable.

1985

Forest Research decided to start from scratch and look at working more intuitively with the timber to create a more sustainable resource which was aligned with the plantation timber.

We gave the Metaform brief to third year students, as they have reached a level of ability and understanding to engage in a project like this. We encouraged them firstly to engage the material itself, to experiment and establish what its properties are, then to use that experimentation to say something about, or with, that material.

1985 - 1988

I m a big fan of furniture design for students for a number of reasons. In New Zealand, it is probably the last big area where many consumers interact with New Zealand-made product.

A designer, particularly one working in three dimensions, could get all the way through a course and never produce anything that s real. It s important for that reason alone.

Industrial designers might make models but they might never make the real thing. It s vital to have the ability to produce something that s real, even if it s only one, so you can pick it up, sit on it, manipulate it, and walk around it. It s crucial to see what you ve done and have the ability to explore it.

Some of the students had good workshop experience before they started the project and some of them didn t. The students who didn t have that knowledge had to make a big leap to connect their ideas with what they can physically achieve. There s a big gulf between what you can conceptualise on paper and what you can physically build.

The brief was to challenge the pre-defined notions that were associated with wood or timber furniture. We looked at how the rigid shape of wood has established a basic shape and we wanted to challenge that. We looked at creating tables with wave systems that would technically be really hard but would challenge the history of everything that has been built out of wood previously.

When you look at these, wood is not your first consideration because the materials have been pushed to the extreme to create those forms.

They approached the briefs initially by doing some very broad conceptual brainstorming exercises in order to undertake the idea of transformation and metamorphosis and really get to grips with what exactly that meant. They started with a very wide range of ideas, which they could draw from, which was quite exciting. Once they d scoped the brief, they went off and did quite a lot of experimentation in workshops.

They worked in teams going through a reflective process of identifying what worked well and how they could improve it.

Experiments ranged from different forms of jointing, bending, finishing and identifying experimental properties. From that point they brought all that research together, and went through the designing process of creating different solutions, then went off to prototype.

The Patent application was granted.

The product was now being manufactured on a commercial scale.

In June the Metaform competition and exhibition was conceived by Locus Research to encourage the use of sustainable New Zealand technology, industry and design. Carter Holt Harvey and AGM Publishing become key sponsors. The brief was to use this innovative new material Green Seal in creative new ways.

The key New Zealand Design Schools of Massey, Victoria and Unitec include the brief in their curriculum. The brief was formally released to the professional design and architectural community through Prodesign and the new website, www.metaform.co.nz.

New Zealand s largest forestry and forest products company Carter Holt Harvey took a majority position in Pacific Hardwood. The material was branded Green Seal and was developed and promoted.

Carter Holt Harvey bought in expertise and finance to enable further perfection of the process and investigation of more markets in Asia and the United States.

2001

On the commercial front, development continues with the first sales into the United States and the use of Green Seal timber to manufacture pre-finished flooring. Sales continue to Australia, Japan, Korea and the UK and Green Seal is being used for an ever increasing range of applications in New Zealand.

In December, the entries were judged. The designers whose works would form the exhibition of finalists were supplied with Green Seal solidwood and prototype production began.

Research and development continued to develop methods of extending the use of the material in new applications such as Outdoor Furniture.

1998

The works for Metaform 2003 were produced and exhibited at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Te Papa Whakahiku. Works travel to The Dowse Museum in Wellington for Exhibition.

2002

2003

A patent application for the innovative technology was made in the USA.

The PROCESS: The timber is impregnated with the special molecules in a large tubular tank, like that used in treating timber. Kiln dried timber is placed into this airtight cylinder and a vacuum is applied to remove the air. The cylinder is then flooded with the liquid solution and pressurised.

The water-based solution containing the special molecules is forced into the wood cells right through the full thickness of the timber. After treatment, the timber is saturated, so it is dried in a timber kiln to remove the water. It is at this stage that the molecules polymerise (join together) and become insoluble.

Pacific Hardwood Limited was formed by four entrepreneurs. It took over the license for the technology and further developed the process to make it commercially viable by adding value and finding ways to reduce the cost of the process.

The MATERIAL: The result of the research and development is a material that exceeded the design brief. It is 40% heavier than the plantation softwood it is made with, whilst using substantially renewable materials. This process enabled an increase in density of more than 160kg per cubic metre. Its strength and stiffness increased 20% and the hardness and stability increased significantly.

The addition of colour was a breakthrough. By using organic dyes during the impregnation process, it was found the timber could be coloured in many different shades. This meant that the material could be used in many design led applications where variety of colour is critical.

These properties also mean that the new material can be cut using fine bladed machinery with ease and accuracy across edge, side and end grain of the timber. The new characteristics make it suitable for high value applications in flooring, furniture and joinery.

Pacific Hardwood began developing markets in New Zealand, Australia, the United Kingdom, Korea and Japan.

1994

1997

Student Winner James Whitta :: Logge - Bench Seat

Bench seat (Nordic Green Seal & Mild Steel)

A simple geometric form becomes dynamic through the engagement of the user.

Professional Winner Neal Smith :: Planar

Dining Table (Edge Glued Carribean Green Seal, Jarah strip & Threaded Steel Rod)

In its simplest form, it is an elevated bench with references to early Pacific Island forms, where the legs, having been carved from a single log, were continuous with the top.

Highly Commended Stu Barr :: Chimera

Suspended lights (Stainless Steel & mixed colours of Green Seal)

I envisage a room filled with five or six stacks of different sizes, each announcing its presence in a different way. The light is measured by its shadow.

Highly Commended Nicholas Len :: Loose Ends

Table (Green Seal off-cuts, stainless steel & packing tape)

The table top is made from a bundle of leftovers which are held together tightly by ratchet systems and straps. The user customises the configuration of the furniture with a choice of having a wider or narrower top.

Highly Commended Nathan Goldsworthy :: Nordic Rhythm

Recliner (Tuscany Green Seal with stainless cables, stainless steel fixtures and a leather cushion)

Long, slender wharves, small wooden dinghies and expansive, linear decks overlooking temperamental harbours emerge as the classic New Zealand way.

Special Prize Simon Dearsley :: Urban Graze

Table design with reversible segments, flat or smooth (Tuscany Green Seal & Stainless Steel)

Urban graze was inspired by the unique grain properties of Green Seal (beautiful richness of colour due to the pigmentation process), its exceptional hardness and strength (perfect for machining)and a recent drive through the beautiful rolling hills of New Zealand s farmland.

Special Prize Nadia Michaelsen :: Under Construction

A deck seat (Caribbean Green Seal)

Simple, direct and in the same way that Rietveld s delightfully awkward looking zig-zag chair is, amazingly comfortable.

Doblar

Laid back seating (Nordic Green Seal & Stainless Steel)

Evolution

Chair (Laminated Caribbean Green Seal)

Chairs Mate

Double Chair (Tuscany Green Seal)

Low Seat / Recliner

Recliner seat (Morocco Green Sealand Hessian)

Fan Table

Coffee table (Nordic Green Seal)

Let s Smile

Sculptural object (Morrocco Green Seal & rattan)

Body Mat

Flexible seating/lying matt (Rubber, Nordic & Bavarian Green Seal)

Capacity Seats

Low Table & Seats (Leather and Caribbean Green Seal).

Now I See

Transformable screen (Cast Resin, Alloy and Morocco Green Seal)

Out on a Limb

Bench seat (New Zealand Granite & Morocco Green Seal)

"Pine Wave"

Wall storage unit that contains its own packaging (Tuscany & Bavarian Green Seal with Sand Cast aluminium)

“Revolution Table”

Table with interchangeable slats (Caribbean & Bavarian Green Seal)

Bouy

Casual beach seat with storage capabilities (Aluminium & Nordic Green Seal)

Bird over Rangitoto

Chaise Longue concept (Felt & Caribbean Green Seal)

Sliding Storage Table

Low storage unit/coffee table (Caribbean Green Seal, Alloy & Fabric)

Untitled

Sculptured object (Painted and aged Green Seal & Tuscany Green Seal)

Bed and Screen

Slatted bed (Caribbean & Tuscany Green Seal)

Bask Bath

A bath concept (Nordic & Morocco Green Seal)

Derryk Butcher Batch Transformation

Table (Caribbean & Bavarian Green Seal)

4th Dimensional Chair

Crafted stool (Bavarian Green Seal)

Bench Seat

Bench seat for a museum (Nordic Green Seal)

Concord

(Stainless steel & Bavarian Green Seal)

Seat (Possum Fur finished seating with Nordic Green Seal)

A back lit screen (Aluminium & Bavarian Green Seal)

Growth Contour Light

Eco-friendly Chair

Retro skateboard and case (Laminated Mixed Green Seal)

Two lights (mixed colours of Green Seal veneer and timber)

Lights

"Hi Rolla Skateboard"

Chair (Cast Concrete and Laminated Bavarian Green Seal)

Flexible spring stool (Rubber and laminated Bavarian & Carribean Greenseal)

Spring Stool

Stem of a Thousand Years

Sculptured Screen (Bavarian Green Seal)

Modular shelving solution (Aluminium & Bavarian Green Seal)

Shift

Time Screens

Mode 4

Green Seal Sustainable Timber Technology

Technology - Pouring Wood Into Wood Few materials, if any, are as versatile or long lasting as a rich timber.

Today, many hardwoods are not sustainable and are gradually decreasing in age and size. Green Seal, however, is a truly sustainable hardwood alternative. It is produced from plantation timber and cellulose from annual crops such as maize.

Modular stand (Caribbean & Bavarian Green Seal)

Green Seal offers a new and innovative solution by providing a more sustainable natural solidwood product. The principle is based on infusing a natural cellulose bio-polymer treatment into wood cells. As the wood cells are cellulose, it is effectively like adding more wood. The process gives increased density, strength and stability to the wood.

Treatment

Wood cells made up of a cellulose.

Lignin

Natural cellulose-based Biopolymer treatment. (like adding more wood)

Impregnated wood cells give greater strength, density, hardness and dimensional stability.

In the broadest sense, Metaform was an opportunity for us to engage a new material that had been researched and developed in New Zealand. It was an opportunity to take this technology, investigate it and really question what design could add to this technology. That s something we should be doing more of in New Zealand we re very good at just exporting the raw materials, rather than creating a finished product.

Before 1985: Since the 1940s New Zealand has established international benchmarks in forestry by planting trees and intensively managing them to create an abundant, sustainable plantation resource.

Through their research, they tried to understand what represented compressive strength in wood. After establishing that this was the cellulose in the cell wall, they experimented with different substances, to see what could recreate it. The search was for a particular cellulose-based molecule derived from natural materials, which would be effectively like pouring wood into wood . The key to being able to use this was finding a molecule small enough to fit through the extremely fine cells of wood.

We used everything from full digital technology and CNC machining through to the love and care of traditional handcraft in the finest detail.

The PROJECT: Although techniques to make wood harder did exist, they were complicated, expensive and the resulting wood product was difficult to work with. They also used mainly fossil fuel derived materials to change the properties of the material (unsustainable).

The PROBLEM: Although the plantation trees were ideal for house framing, decking and a myriad of other value-added products, the main plantation tree (Pinus Radiata) was considered too soft, unstable and variable for high quality furniture manufacture. This prompted the Furniture Association of New Zealand (FANZ) to approach the government owned Crown Research Institute, Forest Research, to develop a solution. This resulting project was led by Dr Robert Franich.

(Forest Research is a Government-owned Crown Research Institute. It provides expertise, technology and research services to the international forest and forest products sector.)

Eventually, the research team found that a combination of melamine resin as a lignin analogue, and maltodextrin (derived from maize starch) as a hemicellulose analogue would achieve this.

The BRIEF: was to make plantation Pinus Radiata perform as well as a Medium Density Fibreboard (MDF) with a veneer. Effectively, Forest Research was asked to make the timber stronger, harder, and more stable.

1985

Forest Research decided to start from scratch and look at working more intuitively with the timber to create a more sustainable resource which was aligned with the plantation timber.

We gave the Metaform brief to third year students, as they have reached a level of ability and understanding to engage in a project like this. We encouraged them firstly to engage the material itself, to experiment and establish what its properties are, then to use that experimentation to say something about, or with, that material.

1985 - 1988

I m a big fan of furniture design for students for a number of reasons. In New Zealand, it is probably the last big area where many consumers interact with New Zealand-made product.

A designer, particularly one working in three dimensions, could get all the way through a course and never produce anything that s real. It s important for that reason alone.

Industrial designers might make models but they might never make the real thing. It s vital to have the ability to produce something that s real, even if it s only one, so you can pick it up, sit on it, manipulate it, and walk around it. It s crucial to see what you ve done and have the ability to explore it.

Some of the students had good workshop experience before they started the project and some of them didn t. The students who didn t have that knowledge had to make a big leap to connect their ideas with what they can physically achieve. There s a big gulf between what you can conceptualise on paper and what you can physically build.

The brief was to challenge the pre-defined notions that were associated with wood or timber furniture. We looked at how the rigid shape of wood has established a basic shape and we wanted to challenge that. We looked at creating tables with wave systems that would technically be really hard but would challenge the history of everything that has been built out of wood previously.

When you look at these, wood is not your first consideration because the materials have been pushed to the extreme to create those forms.

They approached the briefs initially by doing some very broad conceptual brainstorming exercises in order to undertake the idea of transformation and metamorphosis and really get to grips with what exactly that meant. They started with a very wide range of ideas, which they could draw from, which was quite exciting. Once they d scoped the brief, they went off and did quite a lot of experimentation in workshops.

They worked in teams going through a reflective process of identifying what worked well and how they could improve it.

Experiments ranged from different forms of jointing, bending, finishing and identifying experimental properties. From that point they brought all that research together, and went through the designing process of creating different solutions, then went off to prototype.

The Patent application was granted.

The product was now being manufactured on a commercial scale.

In June the Metaform competition and exhibition was conceived by Locus Research to encourage the use of sustainable New Zealand technology, industry and design. Carter Holt Harvey and AGM Publishing become key sponsors. The brief was to use this innovative new material Green Seal in creative new ways.

The key New Zealand Design Schools of Massey, Victoria and Unitec include the brief in their curriculum. The brief was formally released to the professional design and architectural community through Prodesign and the new website, www.metaform.co.nz.

New Zealand s largest forestry and forest products company Carter Holt Harvey took a majority position in Pacific Hardwood. The material was branded Green Seal and was developed and promoted.

Carter Holt Harvey bought in expertise and finance to enable further perfection of the process and investigation of more markets in Asia and the United States.

2001

On the commercial front, development continues with the first sales into the United States and the use of Green Seal timber to manufacture pre-finished flooring. Sales continue to Australia, Japan, Korea and the UK and Green Seal is being used for an ever increasing range of applications in New Zealand.

In December, the entries were judged. The designers whose works would form the exhibition of finalists were supplied with Green Seal solidwood and prototype production began.

Research and development continued to develop methods of extending the use of the material in new applications such as Outdoor Furniture.

1998

The works for Metaform 2003 were produced and exhibited at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, Te Papa Whakahiku. Works travel to The Dowse Museum in Wellington for Exhibition.

2002

2003

Green Seal Sustainable Timber Technology

The judges who selected the exhibited works and awards represent a wide range of design and architectural experience so ensured we had a balanced panel. They were as follows; Humphrey Ikin: Award winning designer/maker with an international reputation.

Mark Pennington: Design Director of Formway Furniture and a widely respected industrial designer both in New Zealand and abroad.

Pete Bossley: A renowned New Zealand architect and founder of Bossley Architects.

Tim Miller: Senior Lecturer in Industrial Design (Victoria School of Architecture and Design) and innovative furniture designer.

Pradeep Sharma: Course Director of the Master of Design Management at Unitec and a great exponent of design methodology and creative management.

Organiser & Convenor: Timothy Allan - Locus Research Organising Committee: Timothy Allan (Locus Research), Mark Smith (CHH), Robin Beckett & Steve Bohling (AGM Publishing)

http://www.greenseal.co.nz

Sustainable Design & Development

The Metaform design competition and exhibition aims to increase public awareness of sustainability in furniture and the value of using innovative, environmentally friendly materials.

Metaform will challenge creative designers to produce works of art that use these materials in an enlightened fashion. The exhibition profiles New Zealand technology and design working together to create extraordinary concepts and designs. It provides a forum for New Zealand s designers and furniture makers to interact with the public and a chance to be part of an exhibition with a positive environmental message.

The competition was open to both students and professionals from all walks of life. There were over 120 proposals received, 38 of these were materialised and exhibited.

locusresearch

Meta means to transform, a change or transformation, a highly organised or specialised form of the art. The Metaform design competition and exhibition is derived from this idea of transformation. Metaform encapsulates the idea of designing with nature s system of transformation and renewal in mind. As designers and craftspeople we need to help the process of environmental renewal through choosing materials that are renewable and sustainable.

Metaform also endorses the great potential of New Zealand s furniture craftspeople and designers and their ability to transcend traditional boundaries with their art form.

http://www.metaform.co.nz