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Industrial Design Professor's "Minimal Chair" Folds Flat, Assembles in Seconds

TJ Kim teaches by example

By Rain Noe - January 9, 2019

in Furniture Design

With their educator's workload, it would be easy for any industrial design professor to stop designing themselves, occupied as they are with evaluating student work. Not so for TJ Kim, an associate professor of Industrial Design at Purdue University, who has managed to squeeze in the time to design a "Minimal Chair" that folds flat and assembles in seconds, without tools. Here's his mockup, and how it works:

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Obviously the real deal wouldn't be cardboard. According to Purdue:

[Kim's chair] has foldable hinges and is made from thin and light metal, wood and leather materials. It ships in a flat package to reduce shipping costs by more than 50 percent. According to Kim, shipping costs typically account for one-third of the overall costs for manufacturing goods.

The chair could be modified for different sizes, dimensions and weight bearing, depending on the need of a manufacturer.

"We want to take giant leaps in sustainable manufacturing," Kim said. "This chair represents only one small piece of our overall goal to streamline lean manufacturing and reduce energy waste."

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J L

5 years ago

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Interesting. Thoughts below!

- If shipping a FULLY assembled chair - obviously space is expensive as chairs generally are not very space efficient. On the other hand, many chairs are designed to be pack flat or KD to increase cube (container loading), drastically increasing efficiency over fully assembled chairs.
- I'm interested to learn more about the actual component breakdown. Metal hinges are expensive and with limited space in those interlocking "finger joint" areas - likely a weak point. A living hinge (like leather which is a referenced material) - this is another idea - but also concerning from a cost perspective.
- I'm also interested to learn about manufacturing method. CNC is expensive in many parts of the world (both overhead cost as well as electricity cost which actually drives a large amount of production cost). On the other hand - this piece looks to feature a lot of small intricate type cutouts.

In general - it's cool to see it shaped out of one singular piece of cardboard and to so easily fold up to save space. I'd reckon that it's actually more interesting from a wastage perspective than a pack flat perspective.

PS --- happy to see an EDI alum recognized!

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- TJ Kim
  
  J L
  
  5 years ago
  
  Z
  
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  Thank you for your great comments! I will give you the answers when we meet in person~ I will be back to Northwesten University next week. Let me know if you are there!
  
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Geraint Krumpe

5 years ago

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Whaaaa?.. wait do that again. 🤯 Mind officially blown, I must have a set asap!

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- TJ Kim
  
  Geraint Krumpe
  
  5 years ago
  
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  Hi Geraint! How is your life in San Francisco? I will be in San Fran from 22nd through 26th. Let's make a plan to meet!
  
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Matt Levine

5 years ago

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Nice.
I would suggest that the slats that make up the seat and the front legs be connected before or after the bend, or make the hinge also be the cross piece that prevents the slats from spreading apart under load. Or/also, I would suggest that the 90-degree bend be a 1.5" radius curve, so the front edge of the seat is not a hard edge under the back of the thighs.

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- TJ Kim
  
  Matt Levine
  
  5 years ago
  
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  Thank you for the great suggestion! The patent was applied in 2015 and it is just published last December. Now I will make the detail changes to make an improvements as you suggest~
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Billy Mack

5 years ago

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Sit on it Fonzie.

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- TJ Kim
  
  Billy Mack
  
  5 years ago
  
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  Hi~ This is an early development model form 2015, I have more detailed information for the construction method.
  
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  - Billy Mack
    
    TJ Kim
    
    5 years ago
    
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    1Z
    
    No doubt! Nice work.
    
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- TJ Kim
  
  Billy Mack
  
  5 years ago
  
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  Thank you, Billy!
  
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