Chair #307

NATURAL CRYSTAL CHAIR

—Designed by Tokujin Yoshioka

No really, it's a real crystal chair! Designer Tokujin Yoshioka grew this chair using a production process that utterly unique. Not that it would be comfortable to sit in. Ouch. A fiber form made of polyester elastomer (which looks like strands of cooked spaghetti or a nest of ramen noodles) forms the skeleton which is then submerged into a tank. There the crystals slowly grow onto the fiber form. At his at ‘Second Nature’ exhibit, Yoshioka installed a large water tank to hold this submerged fiber form in water. So visitors actually saw the process of the structure growing. Well, slowly, of course. The process takes months. Reminds me of rock candy.