Vorticity
“Your well proportioned, simple elements create a beautiful object. You have added some new vocabulary to the dictionary of streamlining.”
Fred Baier on Vorticity
What is this?
Vorticity is a single material chair designed to be easily manufacturable anywhere in the world through a simple cutout. It is shaped by air, through CFD simulations and engineering crafting to generate strong vortices off of the split ends while grounding the user with its 4 inverted wings serving as backrests and the seat. It is inspired by Malcolm Sayer’s genius in using mathematical optimization to achieve beauty in curves.
Aerodynamics is the science of air movement.
While the majority of its applications are within the aerospace industry, it has affected the shape of a variety of objects in other fields such as automotive, mainly for efficiency and performance metrics. One brilliant example of that is the Jaguar E-Type, designed by an aeronautical engineer, Malcolm Sayer, who perfected its exterior design using his aerodynamics knowledge. I believe that there is an unexplainable beauty hidden in the aerodynamic evolution of surfaces.
Most road cars are improved for drag reduction while downforce has priority in racing. The rear wings of F1 cars add to that downforce. The chair you see has 4 inverted wings to produce downforce.
Vortices are very important flow structures. They can be extremely powerful, like in a tornado, but this power can be leveraged using aerodynamic analysis. This can be observed in Formula 1 cars and how they use purposefully generated vortices to increase the effectiveness of the rear wing and push the tyre wake away from the body. Look up the famous Y-250 vortex.
As an aerodynamicist, I wanted to design a chair that would show the unseen power of air and have its surfaces selected using aerodynamic analysis, to produce strong vortices. I started with a baseline design which evolved into many different shapes, using Computational Fluid Dynamics software and iterating the design until I found the one that generates the most powerful and distinct vortices.
The chair you see, called Vorticity, would produce two strong vortices at the 2 edges on the top. While we cannot see how air moves, it's potential and immense power is actually hidden in the curves that make up the surface. When you sit in this chair, imagine the vortices coming off from the sides and how the inverted wings will push you towards the floor, creating a chaotic but stable experience.
Vorticity is a mathematical term used to describe the spinning motion in a fluid, as would be seen by an observer located at that point and traveling along with the flow. The user becomes that particle in the Lagrangian reference frame.
If you are interested in purchasing Vorticity please send a request through the contact form.