QUART
The advent of on demand streaming, made music listening more a background task than an intentional indulgence. QUART is a listening chair designed to encourage solitary music listening, ideally to be used in a listening room.
Duration: 4 months
Brief
The relevance of this project lies in a
personal observation of the distracted consumption of music we all indulge in.With the advent of technology, and on demand streaming, music has faded more into the background of our daily lives as opposed to an intentional focus
SO...
...How do I design furniture that encourages solitary music listening?
Consulting enthusiasts
“I look for 3 things.
1. Comfort
2. Comfort
3. COMFORT
I like the Erkornes chairs myself.”
- rsf507
“Low-back chairs will reduce reflections from the chair itself affecting the sound. That, at least in theory, makes them
preferable to chairs with headrests that stick out to the side. But, in practice, I don’t mind the sound when sitting in a
comfortable chair with a high-back headrest. The sound seems well focused when I sit in these types of chairs.” - larry
“Whatever low-back chair, or couch to share the joy, your body finds comfortable and is at the correct height for your ear to
tweeter alignment.” - bigbura
“I think overall comfort will be more important that any possible sound reflections from the headrest,
especially if you go with a cloth chair that will be far less reflective than something leather upholstered.”
- TuteTibiImperes
“I’m old-fashioned (and old!) but use a sofa. If I ever feel the back is limiting the audio experience I can always move. Usually I’m too chilled to bother. One side is central; a second listener is slightly offset.” - Fi-B
“I move a comfy low back armchair into the prime listening spot when purely listening to music. The spot is out in the room and a bit in the way so the chair doesn’t live there.” - honest_guvnor
After combing through forums. I found varying opinions on features like cushion and frame material, as well as height from the ground. One constant preference, however, was for a comfortable low back chair
"Low-back Comfort"
Inpiration & Ideation
Ideation mainly focused on the form and balance of the front and back of this chair. By creating a silhouette that was more front heavy, I captured and air of precariousness and caution when
interacted with, which is exactly the attitude I wanted applied to music listening.
Isolatory, organic, artistic; These three words guided the curation of inspiration and overall mood of the chair.
Testing
comfort
I tested my intended seating angle, height, and width to ensure comfort as that was the highlighted characteristic of a
listening chair.
*A three step process of wet bending the veneer around the mold, letting that fully dry, then gluing in between the layers of the dried bent pieces and re clamping around the mold.*
Make it work
From cutting my veneer, to making a makeshift soak tank from pool noodles to CNCing custom molds, building this bentwood chair was as arduous as it was educational.
IN PROGRESS
With a wide seat pan and low seat height, QUART goads users into a specific seating position that makes using the hands for anything other than resting mildly uncomfortable. It ‘s nearness to the ground makes getting out of it a more intentional action. The idea being that once sat in, it is easier to remain sat than to get up.
*The braces and cushions are to be added soon*
Balanced
design
32
32
4
16
16
97º seating angle
.75 thick wood
All units in inches
"Take your
pleasure seriously"
-Charles Eames
