Brasilia Chair: A Fusion of Simplicity and Elegance

Rodrigo Scheel's Award-Winning Design Celebrates the Raw Beauty of Wood

The Brasilia Chair is a testament to Scheel's innovative approach to design. He sought to create a chair that not only serves its functional purpose but also pays homage to the raw material from which it is made. The design is a reminder of the primary characteristics of wood blocks that often disappear in the manufacturing process, transformed into sophisticated objects.

At first glance, the Brasilia Chair appears to be a simple diagram of a chair, composed of feet, seat, and backrest organized within a rigorous orthogonal system. However, upon closer inspection, the chair reveals its unique properties. The wood is carved to provide the comfort required from a chair, transitioning between the abstraction and the ergonomics. The gentle curves of the Brasilia Chair reflect the purpose of the object in a geometric composition of straight angles and seemingly simple shapes.

The chair is manufactured using CNC Router technology, with the prototype made from tropical uncut lumber. The final product is composed of solid wood planks glued with laths of different width and fiber orientation, reducing machining time and waste. The thickening of the wood in the joint of the chair helps to dissipate structural straining, especially of the backrest and the back feet.

The Brasilia Chair was designed in 2013 and produced throughout 2018 in Brasilia. The design process involved extensive research and the production of several prototypes to test different constructive solutions and types of wood. Despite facing challenges in finding machining services and dealing with budgetary restrictions, Scheel and his team were able to learn from experienced woodworkers and define the best solutions for the chair.

Simplicity and elegance are often clichés in design, but the Brasilia Chair embodies the true essence of these adjectives. The form of the chair reflects the essence of the act of sitting, while its massive wood pieces give way to delicate lines between curves and straight angles, creating a visually light object. The Brasilia Chair was awarded the Golden A' Furniture Design Award in 2019, a testament to Scheel's innovative and thoughtful design approach.