Designer Bar Gantz unveils her furniture series made out of Steam Bending, a wood-working technique used to heat wooden strips with a steam box. The resulting heat and moist allows the material to easily bend and create more flexible, unique shapes. As part of her final BA project in product design at the Hit-Holon Institute of Technology in Israel, Bar Gantz‘s collections aims to bring back a life-old traditional and ecological expertise.

For the last couple of months, she has been thoroughly researching the subject and focusing on two parameters: wood thickness and the angle of the bend. As a result, the designer has found that twisting the material offers much more intriguing shapes — thus implementing it in every product. However, the biggest challenge has been to adjust the aesthetical quality of the twist with the functional structure of each product.

Final project for her BA in product design at the for this collection, Gantz presents a coffee table, mirror, shelf and stool. Built from 3 similar wood bend strips, the coffee table has all pieces bent at first to a U shape — holding at the center the top surface. On the other hand, the stool is conceived by bending two strips to form a concave shape — followed by making a triangle that separates the bands from each other to produce the legs, and then inserting a bended wood to stabilize them.

In order to hold the round mirror, one long strip of wood has been gently bend in a circular manner. The two ends of the wooden band are twisted slightly in order to be pressed against the wall when hung. Finally, for the shelf, one long wooden panel is bent on both edge with the middle part left flattened for shelving. The slightly twisted edges can be self-attached to the wall with no hanging accessories — preserving a clean and elegant look.

Design: Bar Gantz

http://www.designboom.com/design/bar-gantz-steam-bending-wood-furniture-01-15-2017/