The ‘Busby’ chair was the winner of the BBC North design competition. A modern cocoon constructed from a solid sustainable timber frame and fully upholstered. Busby acts as a haven for employees in open plan work spaces, suitable for one person to make confidential phone calls, and with the ability to place two or more pieces together for a more collaborative arrangement.

The project explores innovative techniques for joining and constructing furniture using  plywood sheet. The project avoids ply moulding and forming and focusses instead on the possibilties of the raw sheet material. This is in the aim of reducing manufacturing/tooling costs and therefore making the design energy efficient and sustainable. 

Current consumerist attitudes have lead to an unsustainable outlook towards material culture, making products difficult to relate to and easily disposable. In this project I have explored how these attitudes/perceptions can be altered to create a higher appreciation for materials, which are often overlooked and disregarded for their aesthetic value.

Concrete is a material often considered to be cheap, industrial and inert. The outcomes from this project aims to highlight the material in unorthodox applications and thus draw attention to its presence and properties, with the aim of creating more awareness of materials which surround us in everyday life and break away from traditional notions of style, perfection and value.