Ara Thorose designs cylindrical furniture based on the width of his thigh

Source:Dezzen

"I used my thigh as the basis for the cylinders' circumference, humanising the abstract nature of the work."

Ulu Group is a collection of sculptural furniture by Armenian-American designer Ara Thorose made of cylinders with the circumference of a human thigh.


Thorose measured his own legs to produce the designs, which are made of steel and foam and upholstered in wool and silk.


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The collection, which includes three chairs and a table, is the result of Thorose exploring the concept of a circle trapped inside a square.


"A circle is limitless, whereas a square is limited, so it's inherently problematic," the designer told Dezeen "Each form is a circle traversing the cube-like spaces held by furniture," he added.


"I used my thigh as the basis for the cylinders' circumference, humanising the abstract nature of the work."


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All curved in shape, Ulu Group comprises Ulu Chair, a sloping orange chair, and Un, an ambiguously-shaped green stool.


A third chair, named Ulu Duo, is a two-seated, mauve-coloured version of Ulu Chair. Ulu Table is a dark brown side-table with a glass top.


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Each piece of furniture is made of a curved steel frame that wrestles between a circular and a square shape.


"Ulu Group gets its name from the U-turns and L-turns that compose the line paths of each form," said Thorose.


"The U is an impression of a circle, and the L is an impression of a square. They partner up with a sense of compromise but also a harmony."


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Thorose wrapped polyurethane foam around the steel frames to flesh out the cylindrical shapes.


Ulu Group is covered in a wool and silk-blend fabric designed especially for the collection. Thorose chose to add silk due to its subtle sheen which accentuates the furniture's contours in certain lighting.


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Thorose describes his design process as "game-based." Beginning with hand-built models, the designer refines the geometries of these small-scale maquettes by sketching their profiles.


These sketches then become full-scale pieces of furniture.


Ara Thorose is a Brooklyn-based designer. Ulu Group expands on Thorose's previous Soft Cylinders collection, a set of furniture that explores the power of cylindrical forms.


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Thorose is not the first designer to use their body to draw their chair's dimensions.


Lithuanian designer Marija Puipaitė used the outline of her legs to design a trio of chairs called Embracing Touch, while British designer Laila Laurel created a pair of chairs shaped to encourage the sitter to spread their legs or keep them apart.


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