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The Artisanal, Handcrafted Plastic “Sealed Chair” from Dumas

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Elegance like this doesn’t just happen. Fairies don’t make these sublime shapes. How are they made?


With brute force! But, that’s only after French/Dutch designer Francois Dumas has first warmed the rods to make “Sealed Chair”…. in, where else – his oven!

Once the rods have been warmed and softened in the oven, then, this Rube Goldberg-like contraption shapes the plastic rods by applying heat in strategic spots to melt the shape into the memory of the plastic rod.

Dumas likes to let the design indicate how it was heat-welded together (by melting the plastic into a seal), to connect the parts.

But, once complete, nobody would guess how these were constructed, from the relaxed and charming shape of these elegant finished chairs.

Of course, making prototypes is not mass production. But just how innovative that can get, we don’t usually get to see! Dumas offers us this revealing look behind the scenes into the real world of industrial design prototyping.

Or alternatively, perhaps this marks the beginning of a new design genre. Might we one day make artisanal, handcrafted furniture like “Sealed Chair”, one at a time, out of plastic – as if it really is a precious commodity? As the oil age ends, plastics will become rare,  too.

Source: Daily Tonic