Prototypes - Tentative Final Designs

This past week has been a whirlwind of building. I spent the week working on the full scale prototyping of my chair design and testing the actual joinery I will be using.

The traditional joinery of the Windsor is a tapered mortise and tenon joint. The joinery I have come up with is a continuous leg to spindle piece that will go through the seat and enter the backrest/crest rail. The crest rail is, theoretically, acting as the under structure of the Windsor. I removed the stretchers under the seat and the crest rail will be acting as the support to the entire structure.

The conical shape of the tenon and mortise allows the leg to drive further into the seat as the chair is used and sat in. This makes the joinery stronger over time.

From last week I met with two faculty that were from glass and industrial design. I talked of my philosophy behind my thesis and the practical joinery that will be put to use in my final furniture. I got great feedback on the forms and the underlying themes that will be present.

My designs are on a great path, they are well resolved and just need some tweaking in order to make them great. This week will be big or getting a lot of new joinery done, with bending the spindled parts to meet the crest rail. Looking forward to seeing this pushed further.