Yesterday, we saw a series of ads for the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, slyly warning parents that "1 in 5 teenagers will experiment with art," a satirical PSA that urges parents to talk to their kids about art school. Lo and behold, Herald Ureña is the lucky one of the five: he's currently completing his BFA in Product Design at CCS, and his recent furniture collection came to our attention.

The "Arms Up" Chair series is a different take on the arm chair: it's "a triptych of chairs based around mannerisms people act out when sitting, [which] range from functional and comfortable to artistic and conceptual for statement purposes."

Model AUSC is the starting point: "it is based off of sitting on a bench and being able to put your arms up except for the fact that it is made for one individual to enjoy, It seems like a pleasurable sit driven by slight greed."

Model AULC-1 is a bit more fleshed out, insofar as it is based on a more substantial article of furniture: "This chair design is based off a couch corner. The sitting area is more than one person needs but not large enough for two individuals to sit comfortably. The back arm is elongated so that the persons arm mannerism is mimicked by the chair and enhanced by the look."

Lastly, model AUHC is perhaps the most refined, where an armrest extends along a second surface, a small table that hovers just above the ground. "It is meant to create a holistic feel in the corner of a room."

Additional process and more (as per the Portfolio Handbook's advice) after the jump...

Ureña's strong sense of form is matched by his conceptual curiosity: "An artistic approach to this project was carried over from the conceptual thinking to 3D modeling and the drawings created to accompany the project." To that end, he's extrapolated a Solidworks model into a sculptural rendering "that loses some of the distinction of the chair but gains an artistic feel that keeps its properties and proportions, color was altered to create a soft touch and a welcoming aspect to the sporadic and rigid structure."