The entire Frame family of seating (Highframe, Armframe, Longframe, Floatingframe and Rollingframe) is based on the same construction idea: to establish an “organic” relation among different elements, creating different typologies by making minimal variations in the proportions and form. The chair (a tribute to Eames and his light structures in die-cast aluminum) combines different technologies in a continuous form: the structure is composed of extruded aluminum sections and die-cast aluminum parts, while the seat is made with polyester screen clad with PVC.
The project centered on development of a section that resolves all complexity in itself. The pursuit of a certain visual lightness (the resistance of the elliptical section is comparable to that of a circular tube 25 mm in diameter) is connected with that of formal continuity and the ‘organic’ solution of the connections. The extrusion, used in all the models, is designed to house the screen (employed for the seat) in a groove, while fluidly connecting to the whole. The combination of two aluminum technologies, extrusion and die-casting, is effected in such a way as to obtain a unified, continuous structure whose joints are integrated in a natural way. The structure takes form by holding the screen under tension with the die-cast parts that function as separating struts. Starting with the same curved extruded section the various typologies are obtained, with some parts in common as well as specific pieces.
designer: alberto meda
producer: alias
materials: the structure is composed of extruded aluminum sections and die-cast aluminum parts, while the seat is made with polyester screen clad with PVC.
period: 1994