Designing for character
and comfort
Dedicated Craftsmanship
Sam Hecht says that designing the Branca Chair for Mattiazzi was an unusual project. And not just because it was their first attempt at designing a chair. “Our working methods are normally applied to tackling objects of mass production,” he says, referring to his design group, Industrial Facility, best known for its appliance and electronics designs.
He welcomed the chance to work with Mattiazzi, “where manufacturing is not at arm’s length. On the contrary, they are living and breathing their world of production, so they take up a position of craftsmen that understand material at a level obtained only from years of dedication.”
A Chair Needs Character
The Mattiazzi brothers, Nevio and Fabbiano, have an obsession with wood production that has kept them investing in the latest woodworking machinery while maintaining the attitude of wood craftsmen. The Mattiazzis wanted to combine their experience in woodworking with Sam Hecht’s naiveté in this area to produce something familiar with an unconventional manufacturing process.
Hecht’s first thoughts about the project were shaped by visits to the Mattiazzi factory. “A chair needs character, and I believe this character must be born out of a series of events, mistakes, conversations, models, and tests. These are all tied to how the factory is producing things and to the talents of the craftsmen.”
Complexity thrives with reason, and beauty
is simply a result of constant growth
- Sam Hecht
Implement of Nature
So he asked himself this question: “What is a chair whose ingredients are a combination of highly complex parts [made by robots] alongside simple traditional shaping and finishing by hand?”
As he learned more about Mattiazi’s advanced machinery, Hecht talked the project over with his Industrial Design partner Kim Colin and colleague Ippei Matsumoto. And as those conversations went on, they turned to nature. In nature, Hecht says, “complexity thrives with reason, and beauty is simply a result of constant growth.”
Mission Accomplished
The branches of a tree thus became the critical analogy for the project. “We accept that branches support the joints of twigs and leaves at different points that may seem random but are all intentional,” Hecht said. And in the same way, the back leg of the Branca Chair supports the critical joints of the armrests, seat, and back, so they seem to grow seamlessly from a single piece of wood. Branca is Italian for “branch,” and the inspiration for the chair—“the branches that turn, twist, meet, and branch off”—is apparent in the simple outline that belies the complexity of its production.
The chair’s design wasn’t all inspiration and sophisticated machinery, however. “Branca had to have all the functional attributes we expect a modern chair to have—to be comfortable, have armrests, fit under a table, and be light enough to carry,” Hecht says. Mission accomplished.
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