Foldable 3D printed TAMU chair presented at Milan Design Week

French designer Patrick Jouin recently unveiled the prototype for his latest creation, the TAMU chair, at Design Week in Milan. The chair folds up completely and is printed in 3D with minimal material consumption. The geometric design of the chair was inspired by nature something only additive manufacturing technologies can achieve.

With the help of the French company Dassault Systèmes and their 3Dexperience platform, the designer realised the generative design of the chair using 3D printing. Patrick Jouin tried to reproduce organic processes using mathematical algorithms. So it was nature that strongly inspired and influenced Jouin. In nature, as in his design, each element is connected to the other to form a functional, coherent whole.

Credits: Patrick Jouin

Jouin explains the specificity of his TAMU design: “In the past, designers were inspired by “organic” as a style, but what is completely new is that designers are now inspired by the organic process itself and how to imitate it.” He adds: “In manufacturing, one has fallen into the habit of producing more material than necessary. But with the help of innovative digital technologies, today we are able to produce with much more efficiency and less waste, and that already in the design process“.