"The Knotted Chair"

Another prototype that Wanders made was the Knotted Chair. The Knotted Chair brought about questions that people never thought about before because it has never been done.  But he made the impossible, possible.  He opened their eyes to new and innovative ways that a chair could be designed, rather than sticking to the normal 4 straight legs and straight back. He also expanded their views on uses of materials that were out of the norm. Constructing a chair out of knots seemed impossible but he was able to compose a prototype. The prototype received so much positive feedback and stirred huge discussions in the design world that he decided to take it a step further.  The chair was to be sold in stores for the world to enjoy and appreciate such great design. Never did they think that it would become marketed in the design world but it got the attention and was high in demand.  Manufactured by Cappellini, an Italian manufacturing company, it is still a desirable product today.

The Knotted Chair is a fusion of the unordinary with the ordinary and is a display of obvious contrasts. It combines the old techniques of hand-crafted work with the new age way of making things using factories and machinery. It defies the softness and forgiving nature of rope by making it into something functional, sturdy and 3-dimensional.  It maintains its beauty and is made obvious what material was used to construct such a striking piece of furniture.

It combines macramé made of rope with a rough, raw material using strong carbon metal to create a contrast between soft and hard materials, as well as old and new materials. These materials have been braided using an aramide technique with a carbon centre to create the many knots that compose the shape and design of the chair. It is then soaked in epoxy, which is hardened using a frame to sustain its shape along with gravity to add the finishing touches.  The transparency of the chair makes it look light and airy, as well as complicated in its structure. The complicated twists of the braids and knots represents strength and resistance to breaking down and collapsing.

The “Knotted Chair” is the perfect example of what Wanders loves and believes he was born to do: making something that is so familiar like a simple knot into something that it large scale and unimaginable. It also shows his insanely creative mind of being able to transform something soft and flat into a voluminous, strong, sturdy and rigid structural form that is usable, functional, durable but also stunningly designed. He also displays his love of reviving the old with the new: bringing the old, traditional macramé braiding technique from the sixties back by incorporating industrial, technological influences into the design.