Curial Chair help

[Ollie McDottie]

Hello all. I hope that this message finds you well.

I've recently been asked to recreate this chair, the Rick Owens "curial chair". Seems like a straightforward enough build, but just a bit outside of my usual wheelhouse of techniques. Wondering if anybody on here has made anything of the like and can offer insights. In particular regarding the bent corners on the back.

Planning to make the frame with 1/2" ply and then veneer the outside with 3/8" or 1/2" thick wiggle wood. One person suggested to hold corner pieces in place I should consider a vacuum bag, but I was leaning toward 23 gauge pin. Thoughts?

It all seems easy enough, but that's always when I get myself into trouble -- underestimating much more complicated tasks than I at first stupidly assumed.

Please let me know if I'm missing anything. Luckily it's being exhibited at. design fair here in town and I'm going to see it in person today to try and get exact measurements.

Thanks in advance.

[Jamie Buxton]

To me, the big issue is the corners. You can’t bend plywood to form a bowl (inside corner) or dome (outside corner). Two possible approaches:

* keep the bent plywood approach, but change the corners. Run the bent plywood all the way into the corner, and make the joint between back and side a big miter joint.

* or keep the original shape, and build the whole thing from solid lumber, like Wendell Castle. Laminate lots of lumber together, and carve away everything that doesn’t look like your design. Power carving tools include chain saws, and/or ArborTech discs on an angle grinder

[Ollie McDottie]

Thanks Jamie.

I don't do much bending of plywood -- so forgive my naïveté, but why couldn't I use wiggle wood to make the corners?

[Jamie Buxton]

Thanks Jamie.

I don't do much bending of plywood -- so forgive my naïveté, but why couldn't I use wiggle wood to make the corners?

Now that I'm home and can see your pic on a big screen, not my little cell screen, I see I was making it more difficult that it is. Yes, you could build this design with plywood. You'd use plywood to build hidden armatures, and cover it with conventional ply for flat faces, and bending ply for the curves. Me, I'd glue the faces plywood on, with brads or pin nails to hold the face veneer in place while the glue dries. The design is not "fine furniture", so some nail heads won't be a problem.

It looks like the original builder used solid doug fir along the top surfaces of the chair, to cover the upper plywood edges.