Postulate Furniture
Beyond Foldable
Postulate furniture is created from one series of six slatted sections and five hinged joints. Hinged through steel rods, they fold into many tables and chairs while also being capable of compacting completely flat. The concept was developed while exploring the possibilities of just how far the folding chair could be pushed.
Chair Kinematics
The design of the postulate was created by folding one long strip of cardboard into a chair shape made up of triangles. I set the rule for myself that the chain of five folds could not be broken or twisted to change the shape. Only the relationships of the folds could create different configurations.
Finding that I attempted to control too many variables every time I started a new series of folds, I looked for relationships in the sections. I observed that sides B and C were equal to the longest side E. Sides D and F could be made equal, creating a flat base when the structure was set up as a table. Side A needed to be a support brace and just long enough to hold side F in any configuration.
One advantage of having equivalent and equal sides is greater ease of manufacturing. Parts could be interchangeable and easily configured for production runs. All sections are sized to comfortably fit on a 24x36 sheet of plywood, only taking three sheets to make a complete chair on a laser cutter.
The sizing of the Furniture Postulate is made for universal use. The seat is at an average height of 17.5 inches but depending on the configuration, can sink or rise to the user’s liking. The longest side used as the 20x32” tabletop has enough real estate for two to sit facing each other in a cafe configuration.
