Photo 1. Image by Moon Joo Lee.

What happens when you bend a six-meter long piece of rebar 14 times? Well, this chair, for starters. By using found materials at a construction site and carefully planning ahead, University of Michigan alum and architect Moon Joo Lee was able to create this chair without any welding or use of bolts.

The ability to create functional, aesthetically clean furniture without having to use conventional manufacturing methods is impressive, especially when the material for that furniture comes from what would otherwise be considered leftover items. In his own words, Joo Lee details the inspiration, process, and ultimate execution of his vision.

From the designer:

In Can we build some furniture with these materials without relying on typical manufacturing methods?building construction, it is difficult to estimate the exact amount of materials in advance. Thus, leftover materials are often found at construction sites. Having awareness of this fact, an idea of building a chair was triggered at a construction site with these simple questions; “What can we, as architects or designers, do to recycle and utilize deserted materials at construction sites?” “Can we build some furniture with these materials without relying on typical manufacturing methods?"

At the construction site, a reinforcing steel bar (rebar) was taken as a single material to build a chair with the idea of creating an essential form of a chair with a continuous single line. Based on a carefully thought-out building process which only requires bending, the rebar was cut in a length of 6 meters (19.7 feet) to be prepared to be bent 14 times. Manual rebar bending tools available at the site were used to bend the rebar to create the frame of the chair. Finally, a steel wire mesh was cut, bent and tied to the frame of chair to provide seating using basic hand tools like pliers. The wire mesh also ties the frame firmly for additional structural stability of the chair. This entire production process does not require any bolt-nut joint or any welding.This project suggests our important roles as designers in sustainability in building industry and furniture manufacturing

This chair design not only highlights essential strategies of sustainability in building construction but also has the potential to be mass-produced. The single material of steel would make the chair ideal for recycling. Aside from issues of aesthetics and comfort, this project suggests our important roles as designers in sustainability in building industry and furniture manufacturing.

Chair 6.0 by Moon Joo Lee was selected from an open call for submissions to be featured as part of Furniture February. Keep your eyes peeled for the next open call – March's theme is "Money".