Darwin Chair highlights inkjet evolution
When graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister wanted to find a high-quality, durable printing solution that would allow him to realise his vision for the Darwin Chair with a cushion made of hundreds of sheets of printed paper that could be ripped off to reveal a new graphic beneath, he plumped for HP Designjet L65500 using latex inks on HP DuPont Tyvek Banner.
"I knew that I didn't want to design purely form-based chairs. I wanted to make them quite graphic," said Sagmeister. "The idea developed of designing a chair that has sheets of paper as a cushion. Just rip off a sheet of paper, and you have a chair with a new colour, pattern and texture. There was just a question of how to make the paper the star and have the structure underneath it recede as much as possible. Initially, the base was made out of wood, but we changed it to stainless steel. This allowed it to become skinnier and free swinging, so it really became all about the paper.
"Each of the 230 sheets is printed with a different design," Sagmeister adds. "Because we wanted the design to have intricate patterns, we needed a high-quality printing technique that could depict very fine lines and many colours. We also wanted something that would reduce the environmental impact of printing. With those parameters, the HP Designjet L65500 printer was chosen.
"The chair is a piece that will probably have a shelf life of 30, 40 or even 50 years. To achieve this level of durability Sagmeister decided to print on HP DuPont Tyvek Banner. "It used to be that if you used a printing technique that was more environmentally aware, you always lost something else, like print quality or durability. Now, you're able to have it all," he said.
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