Links And Connections

Two years ago I was given the title Links And Connections for an AS level product design exam module. For this project I also rooted a lot of my research and inspiration in the structure that makes up a spider web. The basis that this design was created was the idea of a spider web spread across a metal frame that sags in the middle. I designed it around a photograph I took of a web that was spun around the rim of a metal pole. Seven chains run from the metal frame to a central suspending ring, in the same way the first strong silk threads are constructed by the spider. And by using rope I could thread it round the chains loops like the second part of the spiders construction creating support as a seat and backrest

By relaxing my eyes, I then started looking at the standard spider web spiral in other ways. The crisscross effect does not have to be limited to spokes and spirals, they can extend all over the place creating interesting gaps like those seen here in the Vegetal Chair by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. This new Vitra chair is made of dyed polyamide and took the designers three years to perfect