Saturday, April 27, 2013

Design Idea: Prisms. Of Shapes and Weave.

I had a week-long break last month to spend some summer time in the province. Lengthy vacations are great stress relievers but at the same time, they easily break your mind and spirit when you're about to get back to work.

So a few days before it ended, I looked around the house and took some photos of things that I think would help me in designing my next furniture concept. When I saw our old chairs with solihiya weaved seats, I knew how my next design would look like.


The solihiya weave is an old and famous weaving pattern in the Philippines that is commonly applied on the seats and seat backs of dining and rocking chairs.

Solihiya weaved study chair in my sister's room. My chair is painted forest green.
A closer look got me particularly interested with the shape formed by the solihiya weave - an octagon that has extended edges.

Inspired by the shape, I sketched the whole table support (I don't know but I'm not comfortable on calling them horizontal legs, sounds wrong) by following the arrangement of the rattan strips. 



I call it the Prisms coffee table because the alternately overlapping rectangles would become rectangular prisms once they get extruded. I subtracted half of the inside of the prism and added an array of inscribed geometric shapes - square, circle, ellipse, and rectangle respectively. One might say that the metallic array can be likened to the balustrade.

2 comments:

  1. Hi, i just want to ask, do you know where can i find a solihiya weave? i'm planning to make it as a partition ornament for our project. i'm an interior design student. i love your design! :)

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    Replies
    1. Hello!

      I'm really sorry for the delayed reply. Anyway, I think you can find the solihiya weave on local furniture stores like the shops in LRI Design Plaza in Makati, and Tiendesitas in Ortigas, Pasig. You can try the shops in 4th floor of Megamall that cater to the Filipino style. Not sure if there's one in the furniture stores of Sta. Ana, Manila. Having it made by order is a good option too, I think there are stores that offer such service.

      Thank you for dropping by, I appreciate your love for this one. :D

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