josef langWants this job

DESIGN PROCESSFLEXIBLE and THOROUGH exploration in 2+3d

I’ve heard it’s more important to be inspired than to be inspirational. This idea applies directly to my feelings about ideation and process. Observing precedents, being intrigued by the work of others, and expanding upon the natural and built environments precedes any valuable “new” output on the part of the individual. The drawings pictured are from observation of Kaar Klint’s furniture (Denmark’s “Father of Modernism”), steel furniture bases by Ray and Charles Eames, and Steven Holl’s Kiasko Museum in Helsinki.

Analysis

My background at Kansas State University reinforced my affinity for manual exploration of design ideas - both in two and three dimensions. My focus as a designer lies heavily on process, over that of product. When necessary, usually for precision’s sake, I will move to digital prototyping, but sketching and hand-crafting continues to hold a special place for me.The sketches below are an excerpt from 80+ pages of ideation related to one chair, CR45. The photos on the right are of a few of the full-scale prototypes I used to develop the piece.

OUTPUT AND ITERATION

The slim cantilever from DenmarkCR45

The first prototype of this chair was made during my summer abroad in Copenhagen, Denmark. The decision to make a cantilever chair resulted from the material that was available to me - mild steel round.The properties of steel are exploited and celebrated in this chair, and the design prioritizes material efficiency; each member is employed only in such a way that is structurally necessary. The steel frame is an expression of forces acting on a specific material. The woven seat and back speak similarly to a utilitarian and material-driven approach.

A material-driven chair

After returning from Denmark, I set to work refining CR45 in Omaha, NE. After six full-scale prototypes, I launched a Kickstarter in August 2015 to raise funds for the tooling necessary to fabricate the chair with the precision and quality necessitated by the design.The successful Kickstarter made a variety of items available to backers: art prints I designed featuring the chair in surreal settings, freehand drawings of iconic chairs, and a 54-page book about CR45. As the sole creator of the project, I learned a lot about promoting a product, managing a $12,000 budget, and handling larger-quantity fabrication.

The Kickstarter

StowawayA twist in assembly and material conventions

The Stowaway is an concept I’ve had in my sketchbook since 2013. I had latched onto the idea of taking upholstery beyond its usual realm of ergonomics and adornment and employing it as the key structural element in a piece. Additionally, I became extremely curious about designing a collapsible seating product that would be assembled with zippers alone. Stowaway is the result of these two ideas.

Upholstery as structure

Prototype no. 1

Filzfelt (German-milled 100% Wool Felt) makes the piece come to life. The five plush millimeters of compressed natural fibers are not only cushy on the tushy, but are the linchpin of the entire construct. The tension maintained by the felt strapping binds the wooden form together with incredible strength. Taught when zipped into place, the upholstery now pulls double duty - absorbing the tooty and holding up the booty. Oh, and it ships cheap.

Concrete luminaireInspired by inorganic formwork

The idea for this simple light stemmed from the desire to experiment with concrete and synthetic form-work. The nature of the acrylic and PVC mold was stark and bare-boned. This austerity inspired the overall clean and minimal aesthetic of the finished object.The knife-edging of the hexagonal acrylic sheet through the leftover cylindrical shell highlights the relationship between the remaining concrete and the absent acrylic mold responsiblefor its form.

Smooth formwork and uniform surfaces

plexiglass concretethree-part mold

heating and bending finished luminaire

miscellaneousSmaller projects, not-so-3d works and other unfinished business

This 24-hour endeavor focused on manipulating wood to make it behave both passively and actively. The flexibility of the lasercut material, coupled with its ability to handle large tensile stresses allowed it to perform as a ”zip tie”. Upon compressing and passing through the complimentary opening, the wooden barbs notch into place where they provide strong tensile resistance. By systematically prototyping and analyzing each iteration, I was able to land on a form that functioned well in less than a day.

Wooden zip ties

During my first two years in the architecture program at KSU, it was required that all work be produced by hand. This constant emphasis on analogue production expanded my love of linework and freehand drawing in general.The pieces shown here are not precursurs to three-dimensional products, but are instead glorified doodles that compliment my interest in material properties, fabrication processes, and varying scales of production.

Freehand structures

I grew up in Omaha watching my dad work as a carpenter in the Air Force. My siblings and I all inhereted an appreciation for risk-taking and a distrust of desk jobs.Through varied academic and professional experiences, I’ve become set on finding a niche work environment where poeple are obbsessive about design, adventurous in their experimentation, and concentrated on craft. BDDW is, for me, the most tailor-fit culture and studio I’ve found in the US that affords that kind of opportunity.I get a kick out of shopping for pens.I have an infatuation with zip ties.IPA’s and sours float my boat.I miss living in Philly.

thank you