We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer Chi-Hao Chiang about their original and creative Folding Stool design work. Chi-Hao Chiang is an award-winning industrial designer, that makes our world a better place with their original folding stool works.
Chi-Hao Chiang ("CC") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work Attache Folding Stool. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
CC : The main principle is to design a piece of furniture that's friendly for tenants. Thus ideally it should be flat-packed or foldable. Then I got inspiration from various folding furniture in the past about how to define the folding pivots.
CC : I want to make it as small as possible when folded and have a proper seat height when unfolding. Thus, it can be user-friendly for both carrying and sitting.
CC : I would like to research more to modify the design to make it more manufacturing efficient. Also, I believe the form factors can be more consistent.
CC : This is a semester-long project. It's about 12 to 14 weeks.
CC : I decided to pursue to challenge myself by designing a piece of folding furniture with my background in mechanical engineering.
CC : Not yet. However, I would like to lease the rights if there is an opportunity.
CC : I think it's because I realized I might be able to take the knowledge of mechanical engineering to solve the problem that tenants feel hassled when dealing with bulky furniture.
CC : It would be my classmates who were in the same studio course. They did help a lot with inspiration while we were chatting casually.
CC : It's the tenants who live in a relatively small places in big cities like New York.
CC : I think it's the feature that how small it can be while folded and can also achieve a normal seat height while unfolding.
CC : The inspiration came from a briefcase. That's what I want the users to feel while carrying it, as small as a briefcase.
CC : I used rapid prototyping by using existing materials and fine-tune the mechanism with 3D printing. In the end, I used CNC to help make the final model.
CC : I think it's the pivot design. The male and female can interlock with each other at a certain angle to provide strength to bear the users' weight.
CC : I found a company that helped me produce metal 3D-printed pivot components for my final model. This was helpful as I couldn't afford the cost of molding.
CC : I think it's CNC machining and metal 3D printing. These were both very helpful to finish the final model.
CC : Unfortunately, it isn't for this particular project.
CC : It was to find a way to bear enough weight but also stay simple in appearance. I did a lot of calculations to find the correct angles and dimensions.
CC : I would like to see other professional designers' opinions about this design that I am satisfied with what I fulfilled.
CC : I got more understanding about doing precise modeling in CAD software and operating a CNC machine. Also, I realized I can integrate my mechanical engineering background with design better
CC : No, thank you so much.
