ENGRAM
Skills Used:
Prototyping, Creative Direction, Project Management
Prototyping, Creative Direction, Project Management
Tools Used:
Onshape, Illustrator, CNC Mill
Onshape, Illustrator, CNC Mill
Collaborators:
Ellie Gramm, Rebekah Smith
Ellie Gramm, Rebekah Smith
Awards:
Chairs have been a central focus of designers for millennia, with each iteration reflecting the creator’s unique philosophy. Designing a chair has become a rite of passage for many in the field. Thus, the Engram Chair is the team’s response to design as they knew it—a multifunctional chair tailored for young adults in compact living spaces. Influenced by the design principles of Dieter Rams, Jan Tschichold, and Le Corbusier, the chair prioritizes modularity, comfort, and adaptability. Its form is simple and utilitarian, crafted from raw materials. The design process involved extensive prototyping and precise digital 3D modeling to refine its structure. Key challenges included articulating a clear statement of philosophy, effectively integrating natural resources, and preserving the design vision’s integrity. The Engram Chair stands as both a visual representation of the team’s design philosophy and a functional, minimalist solution for modern compact living.
Student Work
Brief
The Form Theory project gave us an opportunity to collectively design and construct a chair, inspired by our design philosophies and the designers who came before us.
Philosophy
We synthesized our collective ideas and aimed at making a multi-functional chair that is personal, understandable, and unrestrictive for small spaces to grow relationships and function individually. By targeting young adults between the ages of 20-35 who enjoy reduced and minimal living spaces, our chair accommodates our core desired principles of “less is more” and “a house is a machine for living”.
Influences
DIETER RAMS
By utilizing materials that change over time, we can integrate Dieter Rams’ philosophy of designing for growth and connections in mind.
JAN TSCHICHOLD
The meticulous craft of the chair will acquire order and structure, coinciding with Jan Tschichold’s foundational proportions, human ratios, and pressure points, emphasizing the Golden Ratio.
CHARLES LE CORBUSIER
Natural forms, as Le Corbusier incorporated into his designs, will elevate the relationship between life, nature, and the user.
By utilizing materials that change over time, we can integrate Dieter Rams’ philosophy of designing for growth and connections in mind.
JAN TSCHICHOLD
The meticulous craft of the chair will acquire order and structure, coinciding with Jan Tschichold’s foundational proportions, human ratios, and pressure points, emphasizing the Golden Ratio.
CHARLES LE CORBUSIER
Natural forms, as Le Corbusier incorporated into his designs, will elevate the relationship between life, nature, and the user.
Function
Form
Aesthetic
Materials
Process
Our process began with prototyping. We experimented with several interactions of our chair with foam and cardboard. After narrowing down our iterations to one design direction we made a full-scale model from thin wood. With this model, we tested the user experience of putting it together, taking it apart, and actually sitting in it.
From this model, we created a digital 3D model to scale. Then, we cut ¾ inch plywood down to roughly the dimensions of each piece of the chair. These pieces were then cut precisely with a CNC mill using the digital model. The slots were then filed and sanded down to fit exactly together.
Why Engram
The term, “Engram” was brought into the art world by a German historian Aby Warburg. Warburg pushed the term to begin meaning a visual representation of a psychology of a time. His work was considered some of the first “visual studies” where all aspects of culture that is visible contains insights in the psychology behind it. Our chair is called The Engram Chair due to it being a visual representation of our design philosophies.
Challenges