Digital fabrication technologies have made it possible to make beautiful and functional furniture that required a minimal amount of craft. However, there are plenty of things we still can’t achieve using digital fabrication, especially the unusual contours you’ll find in excellently-crafted pieces. The Ark Rocker combines both methods of creation, creating a hybrid rocking chair that’s digitally-fabricated, while still bearing the kind of contours that can only be shaped by skilled hands.
Made by Xander Bremer, every single part of the chair was made using a modeling software that sends out designs to an inset waterjet cutter and a CNC machine. It’s not that hard to spot, of course, with plenty of the angled edges and precise cuts that modern maker equipment is so good at producing.
But digital manufacturing can only do so much. To ensure the best comfort in the primary human contact points, Xander took the Ark Rocker’s fabricated seat and chair back, then meticulously hand-sculpted each one, adding “sensual contours” to the erstwhile geometric pockets on the machine-created parts. With the original prototype, in fact, he went back and forth between working by hand and using computer modeling until he turned up a final version that met all expectations.
Like other digitally-fabricated furniture, it can be easily disassembled into four distinct parts during transport or storage, then reassembled again using the custom CNC-machined brackets. It’s a unique hybrid – one that many more craftsmen are likely to experiment with, as the cost of access to fabrication equipment continues to get lower.
The Ark Rocker is for sale. Price isn’t listed, but you can inquire with Xander via email.