Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) students are in the driver’s seat of a new exhibition at Museum of Vancouver (MOV).
Future Makers: Chairs by New Designers displays the work of Product Design students from the Wilson School of Design at KPU. It’s an exhibition that brings together sustainability, design innovation and a critical reflection on the history of everyday material.
Students were tasked with making chairs from 100-year-old mahogany wood from Guatemala. The MOV reached out to KPU asking if design students could create something from the wood, which came from a shipwreck.
The mahogany — harvested between the 1950s and 1970s in Guatemala and Nicaragua — had been stored for decades after a factory’s closure. Recently, the organization that safeguarded the wood felt it deserved a second life and contributed it to MOV’s upcycling design program.
“When we announced this project, the excitement was unbelievable. We had great creative energy to see what we could do with that,” says Iryna Karaush, Product Design chair at KPU.
This was the first time Karaush has worked with this type of wood in a Product Design class, but her students were ready for the challenge.
Initially, they worked in teams of three to build a total of nine chairs. But the energy and enthusiasm surrounding the project led to the creation of 15 fully functional chairs — each designed to support the weight of a person.
The assignment encouraged students to create a chair that not only utilized the aged mahogany but also built a symbolic link between the material, its original cultural context, community users, and fellow designers.
Karaush says,
Each chair has its own name and its own story and that’s the most important part. It’s showing the meaning of design, it’s not just a chair. We’re relying on the great connection between our hands and material and between the community in Guatemala and the community here in Vancouver who are appreciating their work to grow the wood.
Nilvia Rojo Morale, a Wilson School of Design student who participated in the project, says her group’s chair “Sombra,” is inspired by time.
“It was very important that we were honouring the mahogany wood, and for me that was time because it takes a very long time for a mahogany tree to grow,” says Rojo Morale.
For other students, such as Sara Lee, the inspiration behind her project came from her own family history.
“I grew up with a lot of Ming Dynasty Chinese chairs that had gorgeous detail on them and I wanted that detailing,” says Lee. “Some of my relatives were carpenters too so I think it’s cool that I’m able to showcase that to a bigger audience.”
The students worked on the chairs for two months. Karaush emphasizes the chairs are a result of hard work.
“It’s incredible to think they worked so hard for two months. When you’re working with this wood you have no idea how the next piece will look or how long it will take to cut. You don’t even know if it will work or if you’ll have to start over,” says Karaush.
The exhibition Future Makers opens to the public on June 20. For more information about hours and admission, visit the MOV website.
