Custom Pressed Back – Cafe Chairs

These are contemporary pressed back chairs (made in 2014), but wait, what’s a pressed back chair?

 “…In the very late 1800s along came a process that could produce elaborate designs on chair parts for a cost of next to nothing. It even had a lot of people thinking it was hand carved. The process? The steel die stamp. A design with sharp edges was etched into a metal plate. That plate was mounted on a roller and under great pressure was passed over a waiting chair crest rail that had been precut to shape and steam-bent to match the curve on the roller. The result was a perfect impression of the etching that was literally pressed into the wood, giving the effect of a three-dimensional carving. Thus began the great era of the “press back” chair in American furniture”. Fred Taylor – Worth Point 

141028_HandsomeAndCo_077_Web0The process of pressing or debossing timber with pattern is an old technique now being revisited as an exciting opportunity to add some texture and style to an otherwise simple chair.

141028_HandsomeAndCo_078_WebThe really exciting part of the project is that, this method can now be applied to smaller custom batches of chairs thanks to the readily available access to CNC milling and laser etching.

141028_HandsomeAndCo_080_WebPressing wood is just begging to be given a new and contemporary image, an image that is far removed from traditional graphic design and instead adopting a contemporary asymmetric, geometric and colourful aesthetic.

141028_HandsomeAndCo_081_WebThe potential for this practice is not limited to, but maybe best suited to café chairs with business logos/graphics and or limited edition runs of current trending prints and patterns.

Made in Melbourne, Australia by Noddy Boffin

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