Over the years I designed many pieces of Furniture that were extremely economic in its use of material. The sizes of standard sheets of MDF or laminated sheets of plywood defined folding tables or chairs. Tables ended up with unusual sizes since it allowed seats with it and minimum off-cuts. These things you do not always see as soon as the design is finished, hence the animations made for the exhibition Rood als tomaat, geel als citroen in Museum Valkhof Nijmegen in 2020.
Forest for the Trees is a coatstand that is totally cut by laser in 2003, a time when lasercutting was still pioneering. From a fat sheet of through-and-though black MDF, the components and joints were cut. The left-over-holes for the branches were turned 90º and became another hook. However, on thick sheets the laser becomes slightly conical which ment that the thick wooden version could not be build accurately. Therefore it was later decided to start production of the coatstand in metal where the components were nested as economic as possible.
See more on Forest for the Trees (lensvelt 2005)
and Forest for the Trees (self initiated 2003)
Animation: Denis Bacal
Music: Felix ter Avest