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DENT
DENT – For nearly 100 years, designers across the world – including Alvar Aalto
and Arne Jacobson – have attempted to challenge the materials and techniques used
in compression-moulded wood veneers. Many of them have succeeded in coaxing
something out of the material with a variety of hand fnishes, others have managed to
fool the eye of the beholder – special veneers have even been developed that allow
moulding in three dimensions. Such veneers are processed, prohibitively expensive and
less than environmentally friendly.
In this project, Jon Lindström and Henrik Kjellgren challenged the generally accepted
theory of paper – that a piece of paper will allow itself to be folded in one direction or
another, but never both – by applying another theory never before used in this context,
namely the crumpled paper theory.
Did these two theories share a point of contact? This question became the foundation
of the idea that threw the switch and started the process. The experiment began, and a
long journey against strong headwinds got under way. None of the industries involved
were interested in supporting the project; none of them believed that the experiment
would produce a positive result – they were quite simply convinced that it would not
work. Finally, one of them dared to share the risk of failure and Dent saw the light of day
in late autumn 2012.
Dent has opened the door to new opportunities, new forms and new applications for
a traditional material in a traditional industrial process. Dent is a chair with a three-
dimensional shell, compression moulded with traditional techniques and traditional
veneers. No hocus-pocus! Dent is not just beautiful, comfortable and unique in its
independence... Dent is an innovation.
Design: o4i 2O13
