3D Printed RvR Chair is a Finalist for Dutch Design Award

3D printing furniture is an art form, just like any other kind of furniture design. In July of 2014 we wrote about Dutch artist Dirk Vander Kooij and his attractive 3D printed furniture. One of his most interesting pieces at that time was the RvR Chair, the world’s first 3D printed chair. With its flowing, curved lines, the chair is a work of art as well as a functional piece of furniture. Now the RvR Chair is up for an award in the Product category of the 2015 Dutch Design Awards.

Started in 2003, the Dutch Design Awards are held annually and honor the best Dutch design in multiple categories from fashion to communications. The awards are the culmination of Dutch Design Week, which runs from October 17th to 25th in the city of Eindhoven. The finalists from each category of the design awards will have their work displayed as part of an exhibition running throughout the week, with a formal awards ceremony on the 24th.

Vander Kooij’s RvR Chair is one of five finalists in the Product category. Lightweight, stackable, and made entirely from recycled plastic, the chair was printed in a single piece, taking only half an hour.

“This demonstrates that printing furniture can become a useful and competitive technology, both with regard to costs (an expensive mould is not required) and production time,” noted the DDA selection committee. “The committee appreciates the flowing together of the colours, the use of recycled materials, the stackable system and the robust end product.”

If you’d like to cast your vote for the RvR chair, you can do so online. If Vander Kooij wins, it won’t be his first time. In 2011, he won the Best Autonomous Design Award for his Endless chair, which was built by a robot that Vander Kooij created, and made entirely from recycled plastic extruded from old refrigerators.

A graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven, Vander Kooij discovered 3D printing in his final year at school and built his own printer as his final project. Since then, he has made a name for himself with his 3D printed and robotically-constructed furniture and his zero-waste philosophy, which he holds for aesthetic reasons as well as environmental ones.

“Recycled material has a history that can be (literally) seen in the product,” Vander Kooij said. “That gives particular beauty and layering.”

Vander Kooij is actually featured in two exhibitions as part of Dutch Design Week: the aforementioned Dutch Design Awards Exhibition, and Hands Off: New Dutch Design at the Confluence of Technology and Craft.  The exhibit focuses on new material development and the use of technology in design, and challenges both artists and patrons to look at art, space, and the world in general in new ways. With his self-built robots and printers, and his innovative uses of old materials in new creations, Vander Kooij embodies those themes quite well.

Would you put one of these pieces of furniture in your home?  Let us know in the 3D Printed RvR Chair forum thread on 3DPB.com.