MYTO a cantilever chair the making of MYTO a project by BASF KGID PLANK
Ludwigshafen / Munich / Ora
MYTO the making of
Published on the occasion of the presentation of MYTO, Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan, 2008 Published by BASF SE, 45990 Ludwigshafen, Germany, www.basf.com KGID, 88567 Munich, Germany, www.konstantin-grcic.com PLANK, 30229 Ora, Italy, www.plank.it
Concept Design Editing Meiré und Meiré www.meireundmeire.de
Essay Interviews Petra Schmidt www.schmidt-fogelberg.de
Photo essays Viviane Sassen www.vivianesassen.com
MYTO the making of Photo credits pp. 01-05 / pp. 10-11 / pp. 17-24 Viviane Sassen pp. 14-55 KGID p. 62 KGID, BASF, PLANK pp. 65,67,68 PLANK
Press credits ABITARE (I), No. 476, October 2007, pp. 116-121, pp. 277-278 FORM (D), No. 218, January/February 2008, pp. 62-68 THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE (USA), 10 December 2007, p. 10 MONITOR (RU), No. 45, January 2008, pp. 3-6 FORM (SE), No. 218, January/February 2008, pp. 80-81
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Timeline 21.- 22.06.06 BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany: BASF Universal Days workshop 05.09.06 KGID, Munich, Germany: Anja Bakker and Thomas Fritzsche from BASF commission KGID to design an application using the BASF material Ultradur® High Speed. Konstantin Grcic introduces the Italian furniture company PLANK into the project 26.09.06 BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany: first meeting with BASF/KGID/PLANK reviewing Ultradur® material samples 06.11.06 PLANK, Ora, Italy: meeting with machinery maker and injection moulding company November 06 KGID, Munich, Germany: design phase 08.12.06 KGID, Munich, Germany: general design direction found 21.12.06 KGID, Munich, Germany: first foam models 09.02.07 KGID, Munich, Germany: presentation of design concept to all partners February - June 07 BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany: dynamic and static stress analysis of the design concept with help of computer-aided engineering (CAE) 19.02.07 KGID, Munich, Germany: final direction of general shape 15.03.07 KGID, Munich, Germany: 3-D data exchange starts with the mould maker, study of seat patterns 26.03.07 KGID, Munich, Germany: ultimate foam model, final ergonomics are determined The Point of “When you observe MYTO highlights technical feasibility, The development pro- 26.04.07 KGID, Munich, Germany: design for seat pattern Departure. Konstantin Grcic at this moment, thereby and the revealing cess is now complete. April - May 07 BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany: development of first Ultradur® High Speed materials for MYTO work in his studio marking a continuation impressions of the The production 16.05.07 KGID, Munich, Germany: final 3-D data This documentation and see elegant, of the tradition of reality of industrial process is beginning. 21.05.07 BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany: begin of mould flow analysis of the MYTO project sculptural prototypes cantilevered classics production.” It was possible to 08.06.07 PLANK, Ora, Italy: first full-scale sinter model sheds light on emerging from indus- in a charismatic Mike Meiré, Art engage the Dutch 15.06.07 PLANK, Ora, Italy: final review on details, monitoring of the mould-making process the process of its trial raw materials, manner. A similar Director, on the artist Viviane Sassen 03.-04.07.07 Frankenthal, Germany: BASF K-fair press conference, world première of MYTO creation, along with it becomes obvious attitude is also concept of this for the photographic 29.08.07 Injection moulding company, Italy: first off-tool chairs all of the different how closely related documented in publication. première. 19.09.07 PLANK, Ora, Italy: design revision phases, controversies his work is to a this publication. In the hyperbolic 27.09.07 KGID, Munich, Germany: design changes completed and problems as sculptural process. The aesthetic is snapshots charac- 24.– 31.10.07 K-Fair, Düsseldorf, Germany: well as moments of At the same time, derived from the teristic of her MYTO is presented at the BASF stand at the world’s biggest plastic fair creativity and joy. certain pop and visual stages style, she has set November 07 BASF, Ludwigshafen, Germany: development of final Ultradur® High Speed material for MYTO fashion codes cannot of three mutually the scene for the 07.02.08 KGID, Munich, Germany: decision on colours for MYTO be overlooked. Seen interdependent pro- arrival of something February 08 BASF, Schwarzheide, Germany: production of final material Ultradur® B4300 ZG6 High Speed from this perspective, cesses: traces of special: MYTO. 03.03.08 Injection moulding company, Italy: pre-production his designs reflect creative discovery, March 08 Mould maker, Italy: mould finish the hybridity of the analytical, 01.04.08 Injection moulding company, Italy: start of the production of MYTO our time. cryptic moment of 16.– 21.04.08 Salone Internazionale del Mobile, Milan, Italy: market launch
MYTO a cantilever chair 06 07 MYTO a cantilever chair The cantilever chair to be essential Sing” were added to is the basis of has had a greater in defining their the list. However, Ultradur®, combines influence on modern existence, to be in the early 1990s, great tensile design than any a crucial component with the reemergence strength with the other. Yet in recent of their feeling of Retro design, kind of high flow years, designers for life.” designers seem to velocity that was have tended to devote The cantilever chair have run out of new necessary to achieve little attention to represents like no ideas. Everything finely modelled products of this other the cradle seemed to have been cross-sections. type. However, with of modern design: done already, the Grcic’s chair now the advent of the the Bauhaus. Three design classics like introduced a new cantilever chair of the most famous the “Panton Chair” era, beyond the MYTO, it is not Bauhaus designers were more popular well-worn path MYTO In Full Swing only this typology were involved in than ever before. of Retro design. that returns to the development of Hence, this icon of Finally we are our everyday lives, the first tubular style was featured seeing formal and but along with it steel, cantilever again on the cover technical innovations, Essay a swinging way of chair. While Mart of the British edition new materials. sitting. Stam’s first proto- of “Vogue” in 1995, Impulses of the For over 200 years type (1926) was in a photo in which kind that Bauhaus it has been possible intended to be a a naked Kate Moss designers incorpor- to rock back and proof of his concept was lounging on it ated into their forth on a chair and made of rigid being yet another work. They also Petra Schmidt and then come to gas pipes, Marcel very attractive star. allowed themselves rest with a gentle, Breuer and Ludwig It seemed as if to be inspired by modulated bounce. Mies van der Rohe Retro and Pop were the new technology Rocking chairs have set the chair in being equated with of their day, the existed for that long. motion between 1927 a new lifestyle. kind that was being Napoleon already had and 1929 by using Hence, Konstantin applied to auto- one. And American more flexible steel Grcic felt “almost mobiles, airplanes settlers relaxed tubing. In the reckless” when he and bicycles. This in them while recu- following years suggested a canti- is the tradition perating from the the cantilever chair lever chair as a in which the MYTO effort of conquering attracted every joint project when chair, produced by an entire continent. famous designer, BASF asked him to PLANK in Southern After the first since it always become involved in a Tyrol, follows. tubular steel canti- involved embarking cooperative venture A distinguished lever chair was into new territory, using their engin- representative of created in the 1920s, experimenting with eering plastic its category. The however, a whole new materials, innovation Ultradur® High Speed. new plastic chair Petra Schmidt, feeling in seating and, of course, fame “There was suddenly openly displays its (born 1964) works was discovered. and recognition. so much leeway.” constructive details, as design consultant Avantgarde designers Alvar Aalto created It is not surprising making full use of and freelance created chairs that his famous cantilever that everything the possibilities writer for various made it possible laminated wood seemed possible of the new material magazines such as to rock nervously chair, “No.31”, to Grcic. and presenting a “frame and art”, and or bounce tensely: Gerrit Rietveld his Most designers had variety of new she is co-editor of The swinging “Zig-Zag Chair”, the been particularly formal approaches the successful book modern movement. Castiglioni brothers reluctant to become through its austere, “Patterns in Design, As early as 1930, their tractor chair, involved with technical language Art and Architecture”. Albert Sigrist “Mezzadro”, and nat- injection moulded, of forms. It may She was editor-in- explained the new urally Verner Panton plastic monoblock, give rise to a new chief of the German chair form and its his colourful, sculp- cantilever chairs in boom in plastics. design magazine users in his “Buch tural monoblocks, the post-Panton era. Who knows? It has “form” from 1999 vom Bauen”: “It might simply called “Panton The material was already had one until 2007. She first be possible to say Chairs”, which considered difficult. important effect: joined form in 1996 that the only people had a tremendous Not only because it it has brought as the editor of who feel comfortable influence on design meant being measured the swing back “form diskurs– on these chairs throughout the 1960s against an icon of to modern seating. Zeitschrift für are those who have and 1970s. In the style, the durability Design und Theorie”. come to consider the 1980s, Stiletto’s of plastic also By profession a incessant, underlying “Consumer’s Rest”, continued to be a design journalist tension of modern made from a revamped problem for quite she studied media life, a sense of shopping cart, and some time. studies at Frankfurt motion and velocity Shiro Kuramata’s A new material like University and was that continues even airy, steel mesh PBT (polybutylene a staff member of in a static state, chair “Sing, Sing, terephtalate), which various ad agencies.
MYTO a cantilever chair 08 09 MYTO a cantilever chair
BASF talk about tables Why its construction? completed a degree No. Up until now and formulas. One often reads that programme in design. there was only the Designers want to you are able to However, I am an “Panton Chair”, and Thomas Fritzsche, see components and ensure the stability engineer. perhaps a few who holds a degree feel samples of of a product by copies. The topic in engineering, is the materials. changing the Then, of course, was neglected for a Business Manager composition of the you view design and years, it was consi- at BASF. His group Were you the one plastic. That means engineering as a suc- dered too difficult is responsible who initiated the the end of “form cessful combination. for technical ® for Ultradur ,a MYTO project? follows function” – As long as form reasons, since the technical plastic that No, it developed designers now have follows function, plastic has to exhibits a high degree gradually during total freedom. I think design is be both rigid and of tensile strength a series of dis- No, that view is wonderful. flexible. MYTO the making of and flowability. cussions. After the unrealistic. Even I don’t like fancy The first “Panton workshop, Konstantin when dealing with creations and Chair” was made of You produce plastic Grcic called our plastics the form excessive formal polyester resin, granulates. That designer Anja Bakker. has to follow the experimentation. this material is Interviews means piles of a The discussion function. Even with MYTO we smeared into a form raw material with initially led to We can’t compensate had to work for and then reinforced no particular shape. a meeting in Munich for everything quite a while before where necessary. Why, then, are you and, finally, to that was neglected form and function Surfboards and ships interested in a joint project. in planning the really harmonised are made of the same design? We all decided that construction by with each other. material. Basically, Petra Schmidt in conversation with: There are strategic our objective was simply changing the For example, the it’s craftsmanship. reasons. We are now to present a chair, material. Many chair initially Problems only arise very well established a real one, at the people go directly swung from side to when you go over to Thomas Fritzsche in the electrical plastics trade fair from the design side instead of injection moulding and and automobile in- K 2007. Not one of stage to having a bouncing up and and then to mass Kurt Höfli, dustries, where we these new interior mould built only down. This problem production. When the are even the market design visions that to discover later could only be solved plastic is injected BASF leaders. That’s all you only see in that their component through the geometry. into a mould, you well and good, but magazines. We wanted fractures. After A designer has to can’t put the fibre- there is not much to produce a real having spent a lot of be willing to learn glass in the places Konstantin Grcic more that you can product that people money on the mould, from engineers where it’s needed and be beyond number could actually they then come to us in such cases. for support. one. The “Sports, buy. Since we only to complain. That’s Konstantin Grcic Alexander Löhr, Furniture, Leisure” had one year, we not the way to do has no inhibitions But now that’s sector, on the other got to work right it. You first have in this regard. possible? KGID ® hand, offers good away. And it was to eliminate all the Ultradur High Speed opportunities for a tremendous amount technical problems What does the is a technical Michael Plank, Martin Plank growth. And while of work. on the constructive home of a plastics plastic. It has and in other areas the level. We have engineer with an nothing to do with people in charge of Is it really that people who specialise affinity for design plastic bags or Peter Gruber, construction decide difficult to design in dealing with look like? other disposable PLANK what’s going to a cantilever chair these problems. A dining table with products. It is be done with the made of plastic? We recommend that any number of plastic extremely durable material, here the Most people would companies and chairs grouped and can withstand designers decide think that it designers contact us around it? high temperatures. what’s going to be wouldn’t be a at the preliminary You’re not far off That’s why there are used. That’s why problem at all for stage. the mark. so many applications we invited various BASF. Our special- About fifteen years for it under the designers to a ists, in particular, ago, a “Society for bonnet of your workshop called were sceptical. Kurt Höfli is the Head the Development of car, for example “Universal Days” Experienced engineers of Marketing for Plastic Recycling” fuse boxes. that we staged along came to me and BASF’s Engineering was established to And now we’re with the German said: “Today, while Plastics in Europe. promote the recycling exploring more new Design Council. I was brushing my He paved the way for of plastics. applications for We wanted to lower teeth, I estimated the MYTO project. In this context the this high-tech the barriers between your parameters designers Bär & Knell material. designers, research- again, and with It’s said that you created various ers and constructive those dimensions also have a personal pieces of furniture. But isn’t it unusual engineers. With and that weight, interest in design. I still have four for a big company our backgrounds in you can forget Yes. That has some- of their chairs and like BASF to launch natural sciences, the whole thing.” thing to do with my the matching table. such a small project? we don’t speak the Planning its con- family – my wife is No, not at all. same language as struction was a a designer and my Also cantilever Ultradur® High Speed designers. We tremendous challenge. daughter has just chairs in plastic? is a so-called PBT.
MYTO a cantilever chair 12 13 MYTO a cantilever chair We lead the market would have been having to start After entering into been working for entirely different and, finally, to a modern the only way to find background in wood- the “Y”. This marked in this field. disastrous. anew, then no. cooperation with Konstantin for seven way. It has to have industrial company. a market is to clearly working has actually the beginning. And the market leader All of my work is BASF, you went out years now. Many of a little bounce. Today it is run by define the direction been an advantage must encourage inno- Looking at the interrelated. When and found a manufac- our planar forms, Of course we put a Martin Plank, the you’re taking. in keeping our minds What was the motor- vation, otherwise chair, one gets we’re working on a turer, took charge as seen on the lot of thought into father, and Michael Design only offers clear. If you have cycle like? the lead can be the impression that barstool like MIURA, of public relations, sofa CHAOS or the it and experimented Plank, the son. strategic advantages technical understand- A streetbike with easily lost. That’s you have found a we find many more planned the presen- chair_ONE, were in with the plastic. when you put all ing and you put out 125cc. When we were what we we’re doing whole new direction approaches to that tation at the part a consequence People aren’t used Up until the 1990s, your effort into the your antennas, then teenagers it was here. in terms of design: kind of project Triennale in Milan, of the cardboard we to sitting on canti- your company in development of a you can also handle special because you from the crystalline than we could ever and did much more. used in modelmaking. lever chairs any Northern Italy was product and when a project like MYTO. could ride one as Might MYTO lead forms found in realise and the next Are you interested This time we worked more. That’s why still producing you’re really soon as you turned to something like chair_ONE towards object benefits from in playing this kind with an entirely we were surprised by the typical beerhall innovative – that sixteen. That used a Renaissance in a more austere and it. It is correct of role more often different material. the great feeling of chairs for local also makes it to be common in plastic furniture? technical language to say that we have in the future? It was a perforated, sitting on it when pubs. Now you produce harder to copy. Peter Gruber works Italy. Of course I don’t think so. of form. entered a new terrain I learned my lessons flexible mesh. the first chairs furniture made of as product developer all fifteen-year- The wave of plastic MYTO is, above all, with MYTO, one I had a long time ago. Obviously, the mesh came out of the innovative material What did you learn at PLANK in Ora and olds were waiting in Panton’s day had one thing for me: no experience with In the meantime, I’m is bound to result mould. You could such as plastic while working on gave the key impulse impatiently for something to do with a whole new phase previously. What I quite familiar with in more pliant forms feel the elasticity in cutting edge MYTO? in naming MYTO. the day when they the newness of the in our work with mean, specifically, various relationships than cardboard. Now- of the material, designs. How did Martin Plank: The It all goes back to his finally had the material. Everything injection moulding. is the process of and mechanisms in adays we use full- how flexible it was. such a fundamental interaction with childhood dream: a red permission to drive. seemed possible. In comparison to the creating organic design and in the scale foam models and reorientation come Konstantin Grcic, motorcycle. The Cagiva Mito was Those days are gone. techniques commonly forms, the kind that furniture industry, involve the computer I’m surprised you about? his team and BASF the symbol for that. used in the furniture you know only from and I can get things at an earlier stage. don’t have a “Panton Martin Plank: That’s was really inter- It’s said that the industry like wood sports equipment and moving. Nevertheless, Due to a greater use Chair” in your true, we produced esting. Comparing name MYTO came to you Is the name an and metal, I find it cars. I have always I would still not of the possibilities office. There are those typical details, taking a in a dream. Is that indication of the KGID tremendously liber- fancied this type claim to have “man- of 3-D software, we so many chairs here, “alpine chairs” with passionate stand on true? chair’s sporty ating. It is poss- of “product design”, aged” the project. are able to achieve including many clas- six spindles, the ideas. Konstantin Searching for a name appearance? ible to shape forms but have rarely My work as a designer more precise and sics. But the chair kind you find every- calls it “playing is always difficult, To some extend, The German Konstantin more precisely, to had the opportunity always comes first. complex designs. with which MYTO is where in that region. ping-pong”. Being because there are yes. The renderings Grcic is currently one work with changing to work with it up All those things often compared is But then the market involved in this so many chairs and, were also originally of the most important thicknesses and until now. you’ve been talking How do you design nowhere to be found. changed and there kind of exchange naturally, so many red. The Mito of my designers worldwide. sections. Neverthe- about are also part a comfortable chair? Towards the end of wasn’t much demand is the only way to names. That’s why dreams was always In his office in Munich less, this chair – Doesn’t this new of the job descrip- Are there any stan- the project we did for the style and make progress when we started with it red. And in much he designs furniture like many of my other freedom lead to tion for a designer dards you can apply in fact borrow one. the way they were developing a product. at an early stage. the same way this and exhibitions as well designs – has a lot somewhat arbitrary nowadays. to your work? At that point we produced anymore. You often see The recommendations project with the as household appliances to do with construc- results? It’s better not to were interested in So we made a really furniture companies went back and forth chair was like a and lighting. tion. In contrast to No, not arbitrary. pay too much atten- the size. But the radical decision hiring a famous de- between PLANK and dream to me. the “Panton Chair”, Some of the things tion to standards, fundamental concept in the 1990s and signer, and produc- Grcic’s office. Now, the way things Mr Grcic, let’s start my project has a that we’ve now been Alexander Löhr is that way you’re less on which it’s based revamped the entire ing a prototype, to After all, the name look, the chair may at the beginning – clearly defined able to realise were product designer in constrained in your is entirely differ- company, beginning show off at a trade was supposed to high- soon end up in a the name MYTO. It framework that can indeed the result Konstantin Grcic’s approach. Later, when ent: you sit in with the products. fair, but then the light the fact that museum like the MoMA sounds like mythos. be understood at of a certain reck- office and was in working on the foam a shell, and it’s design ends up in this chair was special Collection. Did this self-assured first glance. The lessness. Given my charge of developing models, there is quite stiff. It is But why the orienta- some drawer and is – a kind of dream. That’s also part decision seem like muscles that support experience with MYTO. still plenty of time interesting to see tion towards design? never seen again. of the MYTO myth, an omen or a burden the structure are plastic, the frame- to test the comfort. to what extend the Martin Plank: My That’s not how we Did you really come and it makes me to you? easily recognisable. work and the mesh I have the impression “Panton Chair” took son Michael studied operate. We don’t up with the name in proud. After all, Only afterwards we for the seat seemed that in developing Are there any over the field of design along with want to use designers your sleep? I contributed to it. realised how profound Flowing lines and yet interesting to me. MYTO you and standards? Is there cantilever chairs. business administra- like that, and, No. One evening, on the name actually still constructive. As a result, I ended Konstantin Grcic something like a Ultimately, no one tion. That determined besides, we’re not my way home, I was Did you ever actually was. But then it Isn’t that a contra- up pushing the spe- have discovered a Golden Section? dared to address the direction we in a financial posi- thinking about all have a red Cagiva ultimately became diction? cialists from BASF new vocabulary of One rule we applied the topic again took. Michael Plank: tion where we could the requirements the Mito? an omen – a good What I like about to their limits. forms. is that the angle of for decades. In the beginning afford to. Whenever name had to fulfil. Unfortunately not. one. The project this chair is that The realisation was Exactly. It was a the backrest should there was a lot of we have sold our Suddenly Mito popped It always remained itself became some- it has found its own far more difficult case of personal come to 102 degrees. “experimentation”. souls to an idea, into my mind. And a dream. I always how mythic as time language. Of course than I imagined. development. At the Konstantin has his Every designer who we go ahead with the with it the image had a Honda, but progressed, however, that also includes Nevertheless, it was moment, there are a own ideas about com- PLANK contacted us was project, and in the of the motorcycle: when my daughter that was never our contradictions and right to approach it lot of cubic designs fort and ergonomics. invited to a personal end we’re successful, the Cagiva Mito. Nastiya was born, intention. rapture. in such an uninhib- and folded surfaces. Martin Plank is interview. thanks to the help The dream of my I sold the motorcycle, That’s typical of ited manner: it was We needed to get out usually responsible The PLANK Furniture We produced countless of everyone involved. youth. The next but just the motor- Really? my work. I was never the only way for us of that corner. for those details. Company has been in prototypes and models. morning I suggested cycle, not the helmet Something like that interested in perfect to arrive at such He has his measurable business for four There was a real sense Plank has its roots it as a possible and the gear, because can’t be planned. form. new and innovative Konstantin Grcic be- standards and his generations, and it has of a new beginning. in the wood industry. name for the chair. – you never know. Nevertheless, we had solutions. lieves that the form Golden Section. undergone major How did you get your Everyone was just to be very convinced Does that mean results more from changes since it was Did that lead to mind set on the as excited as I was. of the name, since there was never any In this project, you the material and the But a cantilever established in 1893: success? challenges of the We then took the making a false kind of caesura? played an important process. chair has to be from a craft-orientated Michael Plank: No. plastics industry? development a step claim with “myth” If a caesura means role as a manager. That’s true. I have comfortable in an workshop to a factory We soon realised that Michael Plank: Our further and introduced
MYTO a cantilever chair 14 15 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair
Photography Viviane Sassen
MYTO a cantilever chair 16
Viviane Sassen is Within this wide structure and volume. She clearly leans Viviane Sassen especially remarkable diversity of Although Viviane toward a graphic was born 1972 in when it comes to approaches and would never call and hyperstylised Amsterdam. combining a variety choices of subject herself a fashion form of photography of photographic matter, her most photographer, much and makes use of genres, either next notable quality is of her work finds a varied palette of to or right on top a sublime feeling its origins in possibilities. of each other. for form, colour, fashion.
25 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO the making of
BASF Designing Materials and Applications
04.09.2007
BASF Ludwigshafen, Germany
The first off-tool chairs are tested at the BASF laboratories.
05.09.2006
KGID Munich, Germany
Following a first encounter at the Universal Days in 2006, BASF commissions Konstantin Grcic to design an application using the BASF material PBT (polybutylene terephthalate), known as Ultradur® High Speed. It is mainly used in the automotive industry, and BASF is aiming to promote its qualities in new markets. Konstantin Grcic proposes straight away to develope a chair and introduces the Italian furniture company PLANK into the project.
MYTO a cantilever chair 26 27 MYTO a cantilever chair BASF contributes thorough engineering support The construction of MYTO is based on a structural frame. to the project development. Like a tree the material is thicker around the base where the chair needs Data gained from structural computer analysis, full strength while thinner material branches out to less critical areas. mould flow simulations and material testing allow the in-house engineering team to adjust the material according the static requirements of the cantilever chair. Injection moulding allows for the gradiant cross-sections.
MYTO a cantilever chair 28 29 MYTO a cantilever chair The fast exchange of 3-D computer data between the three partners is essential to the MYTO project.
It speeds up the process by enabling the simultaneous development of The stacking engineering and design. is precisely determined on the computer.
Dynamic and static stress analyses give clear indications of the performance of the design in each phase.
MYTO a cantilever chair 30 31 MYTO a cantilever chair 16.02.2007
KGID, Munich, Germany
Printed patterns are patchworked onto a cardboard model. (right)
09.02.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
The production engineer explains the position of the chair inside the mould.
13.11.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
The laser-sinter model on the right shows the transparency of the final perforation.
MYTO a cantilever chair 32 33 MYTO a cantilever chair 18.09.2007
BASF Ludwigshafen, Germany
Kurt Höfli, Director Marketing Engineering Plastics analysing a production sample together with Andreas Eipper and Mark Völkel.
20.02.2007
BASF Ludwigshafen, Germany
Ulrich Endemann (right), Head of Application Engineering and Tsung-Chieh Cheng (left) are responsible for the computer analysis and mould flow simulations. 06.11.2006
machinery maker Italy
Anja Bakker (left), initiator of the BASF Universal Days workshop, presents the concept of collaboration between the three partners BASF (material & engineering support), 09.02.2007 KGID (design) and PLANK (production & distribution). KGID Munich, Germany This meeting marks the point of departure with a year of challenge ahead.
Thomas Fritzsche (left) Business Unit Manager of Engineering 23.10.2007 Plastics with Konstantin Grcic. K-fair The team’s shared passion and enthusiasm Düsseldorf, Germany play an essential role in achieving the ambitious goal. MYTO is proudly presented at the BASF stand at the world’s biggest plastics trade fair.
03.04.2007 Only eleven months elapse between the first mould maker meeting and the première Italy of MYTO.
Tsung-Chieh Cheng (right) showing the injection points to Alexander Löhr (KGID).
MYTO a cantilever chair 34 35 MYTO a cantilever chair 18.09.2007
BASF Ludwigshafen, Germany
MYTO is subjected to a series of tests at the BASF laboratories.
In this case the chair withstands a heavy load dropping from a height of three metres.
30.08.2007
production site Italy
The first off-tool chair is loaded with bags of the newly developed grade of Ultradur® High Speed.
MYTO a cantilever chair 36 37 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO the making of
KGID Designing Form
MYTO a cantilever chair 38 39 MYTO a cantilever chair 14.11.2006
KGID Munich, Germany
The black tape marks a supporting framework on the mesh.
The interplay between a solid frame and a perforated surface is to become the basis for the design of MYTO.
15.11.2006
KGID Munich, Germany
06.12.2006
KGID Munich, Germany
Konstantin Grcic and his assistant Alexander Löhr (top left) are making first models out of perforated aluminium mesh.
The material is a key factor in the design process.
It is easy to manipulate by hand and therefore allows three-dimensional forms to be sketched.
MYTO a cantilever chair 40 41 MYTO a cantilever chair
23.01.2007 13.12.2006
KGID KGID Munich, Germany Munich, Germany
A quick mock-up made of cut up furniture Konstantin Grcic modelling with parts gives a first impression of a plastic wire on an ergonomic rig. cantilever chair.
15.12.2006 08.12.2006 KGID Munich, Germany KGID Munich, Germany The lightness of the aluminium mesh influences the characteristics An early model of a cantilever frame represents of the final design. a significant point in the design process. Later it will give MYTO its most dominant characteristic.
19.12.2006
KGID Munich, Germany
Red tape is applied onto the fragile model in order to translate its geometry into 3-D computer data.
MYTO a cantilever chair 42 43 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair 44 45 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair 46 47 MYTO a cantilever chair 14.03.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
The initial concepts for the seat structure range from asymmetrical lines (left) to a wicker like pattern (right).
25.04.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
Konstantin Grcic working on the final grid which Konstantin Grcic and Alexander Löhr is ultimately determined by the flow characteristics are playing through various designs ® of the material Ultradur High Speed on 1:1 print-outs using adhesive and the movement of the tool. tapes and markers.
MYTO a cantilever chair 48 49 MYTO a cantilever chair 11.06.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
Adjustments are made on a 1:1 laser-sinter model.
19.01.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
Various model-making techniques are used during the design process. While the aluminium mesh is best for first sketch mock-ups, polystyrene foam models are strong enough to check the seating comfort.
Rapid protoyping technologies such as laser sintering reproduce the precise 3-D geometry of the computer data.
30.01.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
Martin Plank and Konstantin Grcic discussing one of the first wire and cardboard models.
MYTO a cantilever chair 50 51 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair 52 53 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO the making of
PLANK Designing Production
15.06.2007 mould maker, Italy 14.06.2007 The model helps to point out problems of moulding constraints. Konstantin Grcic and Martin Plank in discussion with the engineer, PLANK responsible for the construction of the tool. Ora, Italy
Michael Plank pointing out subtle corrections made to the frame.
14.06.2007
PLANK Ora, Italy
Peter Gruber sitting on a propped-up laser-sinter model.
MYTO a cantilever chair 54 55 MYTO a cantilever chair 19.09.2007
PLANK Ora, Italy
Handwritten markings by the production engineer specify the different material compositions tested by BASF.
23.10.2007
KGID Munich, Germany
(from left to right) Konstantin Grcic, Martin Plank, Biagio Cisotti and Michael Plank discussing ultimate details.
06.09.2007
PLANK Ora, Italy
Stackability is a key requirement from the beginning.
MYTO a cantilever chair 56 57 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair 58 59 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair 60 61 MYTO a cantilever chair 29.08.2007
production site Italy
The machine opens to reveal on one of the first MYTO chairs from production. (left)
29.08.2007
production site Italy
The mould is lifted into the injection machine to run preliminary trials. (right)
29.08.2007
production site Italy
The first batch of MYTO chairs is critically assessed.
MYTO a cantilever chair 62 63 MYTO a cantilever chair 19.09.2007
PLANK Ora, Italy
The first production series is set up at the PLANK warehouse. Comfort and stability tests now determine the final composition of the Ultradur® High Speed.
After one year of working on models, the chair has finally become a real product.
MYTO a cantilever chair 64 65 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair 66 67 MYTO a cantilever chair ABITARE (I) FORM (D)
No. 476, October 2007, pp. 116-121, pp. 277-278 No. 218, January/February 2008, pp. 62-68
How to give birth to a chair: the story of MYTO by Konstantin Grcic Grcic swings! by Anniina Koivu by Oliver Herwig
In the end it all tiality of the a dynamic shape with various types of Ever since Verner toward the body. The only in the techni- they pressed the once. It celebrated comes down to three Ultradur® High Speed a unique transition perforations came Panton, no other frame forms an elas- cal leaflet, pedal to the floor. a new and intense minutes. plastic, normally from a thick to a to an abrupt halt. designer has risked tic backbone. MYTO products should be Three days before linkage of manufac- Three minutes be- used in the automobile thin cross-section. We realized that the making a cantilever stays in motion. convincing. Christmas the first turer, designer and tween the closing industry. Thick: where the machine could not chair out of plastic Polybutylene tereph- Afterwards, BASF model was complete, materials producer, and reopening of the “The possibilities structure has to be guarantee the ideal – until, now, thalate (PBT) is the initially appeared and less than two bundling their security doors of an are endless in chair strengthened, like flow of the heated a completely new name of the material as the only client. months later Grcic differing areas of injection moulding design, and so are the two most crucial plastic throughout material has made which is used above The goal was to pave and his assistant expertise. Much was machine. Just three the difficulties in load-bearing parts the chair and it possible, namely, all in the auto- the way for the Alexander Löhr pre- achieved in parallel, minutes to unite trying not to repeat at the upper and especially to the polybutylene tereph- mobile industry and material’s success sented the design and Grcic speaks the two mono blocks oneself. To narrow lower joints of the thinnest parts of thalate. Konstantin which BASF markets outside the auto to the team, where of the “fruitful and press the hot down the field, we legs. Thin: as with the net, as it Grcic has formed a as Ultradur® High world. Not only as a it was greeted with flow of information liquid plastic into started from the the seat and back- tends to cool down swaying chair from Speed. The chemicals prototype, but also astonishment and and experience”. the mould. promising character- rest to create a and harden before the BASF plastic, giant on the Rhine in mass-produced euphoria. The mater- When Günter Grass Three minutes for istics of the mater- light and cantilever reaching the furthest enriched with nano- has developed a items. The choice of ial progresses from philosophized about each new MYTO chair ial and took up experience when point of the mould.” particles, which particularly fluid object and industrial cardboard and wire progress, which he to be born. the challenge of not sitting. In order to overcome could go down in technical plastic partner was for mesh to polystyrene. felt moved at a While a technician only designing an these technical design history. with it, to which Grcic to make, which You could admittedly snail’s pace, he had is taking out one umpteenth plastic To achieve the final limits, Grcic had nanoparticles lend meant: “if, then sit on the milled society and history chair after another chair but instead a shape, the design to reinforce the One form, one special properties. a chair.” And if block, but the model in mind, not design. to place them into new kind of plastic process has been grid reducing the material, one cast. It combines firmness a chair, then its was still supported Yet even in the templates for cantilever chair”, a see-saw between size of perforation. The MYTO chair is and high fluidity in most ambitious form, by a solid core. self-proclaimed home cooling, a group recalls Konstantin computer animations Despite the additional built as a single processing and gives the cantilever. This was not yet the country of innovation, of reassured men is Grcic, amazed that and various full- weight, the MYTO has block. Its stable designers completely Made of plastic! cantilever by any much moves far too proudly twisting and they actually pulled scale models built retained its slim frame merges into new possibilities After having taken means. The later slowly. Sometimes, turning the first it off in such a in wire, foam and and light appearance a net-like backrest to choose the cross- this decision Grcic mesh for the back- however, veritable prototypes of this short time. scrap from other and can still be and seat which sections of their immediately sensed rest was simulated explosions are to be new cantilever For Martin Plank, furniture. easily stacked. merges with the objects freely and “liberation, indeed by layers of black witnessed. Function chair, completely a central figure in Each of these models Chair design is body. No wonder to combine thick and close to light- insulating cable. follows innovation made of plastic. the putting together developed a different all about balance, that the eyes first thin cross-sections headedness,” or so The chair was covered owing to the nature We are in the of this group aspect of the chair, especially in the perceive the chair, in soft lines. he recalls. He had in patterns. Overly of the material. hall of the effort: “Time was starting with first case of a cantilever glide over prominent The quickly fluid taken on a challenge ornamental? Overly “I hope that other injection machine the major factor. conceptual sitters, chair. Volume in edges, soft material can be used that all his col- dramatic? The design companies are producers, with Decisions could be over form and static combination with supports, and trace to create free for- leagues had failed remained in flux, encouraged to opt the technical taken on the spot analysis to the final decorative perfor- the transitions. mal transitions in to address down was digitalized. for similar partner- experts and BASF, because we trusted detailed mock-ups on ation is central to Actually, says injection molding, through the decades. Engineers at BASF ships to handle more the chemical company each other’s ability. molding seam-lines. the final shape of Konstantin Grcic, and at the same In order to counter showed on-screen complex projects,” responsible for And more than once Special attention the object, but the the design came to time you save mass. the mixture of com- where material needed suggests Grcic. engineering plastics, this pushed the was given to the right balance must be from a small How did the design plexity, intensity to be strengthened He has gained a along with furniture design to a new perforation of the be struck between misunderstanding, come about? In the and time pressures, and where even a unique experience manufacturers Plank level”. seat, which, with solidity and flexi- from the false beginning there he included the thinner wall was with plastic: and designer Along with the its slight upward bility in order to estimation that the was a BASF workshop. materials manufac- possible. In May While he previously Kostantin Grcic, choice of material, bulge, extends create comfort material can be Four designers, June turer, the producer, 2007, MYTO progressed responded to problems to witness the first the type of chair smoothly into the without losing the both soft and hard 2006 in Ludwigshafen. the toolkmaker and from PC to rapid- regarding the ma- results of the and the various backrest. chair’s springy at the same time. The chemicals giant the machine builders prototyping model terials by altering design process for tools used for manu- This net-like nature. All these Although the chem- wanted something on the team. In the and the sintered the structures, now a new everyday icon. facture the concept pattern underwent questions, are ists at BASF immedi- tangible, ideas form of Italian com- chair took on form. it was the material In the late summer of one-piece produc- numerous changes currently undergoing ately cleared up about how their own pany Plank, who had The maker of the itself that got of 2006 the members tion also had a as it developed from fine tuning. this mistake, the technical plastics, already produced his final tooling was altered. Suddenly of this group agreed major influence on free-flowing psyche- Once all the ingre- desire remained to the “Ultra-s”, can Miura bar stool for now also on board. there was a chemist on an one-year project the final design of delic motifs to its dients come together grasp these opposites show their strengths him, and BASF, he Swiftness and team who expanded the for a cantilever the MYTO. The chair final symmetrical properly, MYTO will as productive ten- vividly. Instead of had two partners who spirit moved the material’s properties chair, based on the had to be formed structure: become the next sion. The backrest, praising properties clearly were willing design process by adding something. practical properties as one continuous “At one point the piece in the series stretched out like like firmness and to learn from each along, eliminating “Now these are and creative poten- frame, resulting in experiments on of cantilever icons. a cushion, arches heat-moldability other. And together several barriers at scientists,” Grcic
MYTO a cantilever chair 68 69 MYTO a cantilever chair says, “who can turn Does he now want the last project,” inwardly not ready perfect combination.” to Grcic’s products, company in the tic had to be both are designed for in April alongside wishes into a formula.” to do other things he confesses, “my to repeat the risk Now that’s the which look oddly Dolomites, with whom very strong and very four-legged chairs all of the hundreds A material that with polybutylene first contact with and adventure. sound of design gawky at first he had worked before, flexible, but it had that behave com- of other new chairs. ideally goes through terephthalate? “My the material, meaning Ultradur® and canti- when you get the sight, but then grow and a veteran been formulated to pletely differently.” thick and thin. mind is still in I am probably lever were the chemistry right. on you. The MYTO is Italian mould maker. be one or the other. (Alice Rawsthorn, no exception. Grcic BASF’s chemists came The BASF team made Grcic was lucky. architecture and wanted it to seem to all of the tests up 15 different When a chair flunks design columnist for light and supple, in the factory. versions before a test, the designer “The International with a perforated “There were two very finding the mix that usually has to Herald Tribune”, is seat and back. different schools of worked best in tests change the shape, the former director THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE “The perforations thought at work,” at the mould-making but for the MYTO, of the Design Museum look quite like an recalled Grcic. factory. the chemists tinkered in London.) (USA) animal skin, and the “German academic with the chemical chair has a reptilian thinking, versus “You use all this composition of the © 2008 10 December 2007, p. 10 quality with a precise hands-on Italian software but, in the plastic to find the Alice Rawsthorn outline and roundish, engineering, very end, when you get a right formula. Distributed by but tense surfaces,” professional, but chair out of a mold A prototype of the The New York Times he said. “Sometimes ready to improvise.” and sit on it, it MYTO was unveiled Syndicate A cantilever chair wins a Physical battle animals assume that seems completely at a plastic fair by Alice Rawsthorn position when Both skill sets were different,” said in Düsseldorf in they’re ready to needed because Grcic Grcic. “With a October. It is now pounce.” had been overly cantilever chair being finessed, and ambitious in his it’s even more the first production LONDON - As every the cynics by proving from Ultradur® High Iconography apart, be used, and vis- To manufacture the design. To create difficult to predict models are to be designer with a its worth. The latest Speed, an advanced there are sensible ualizing its shape. chair, Grcic chose a stable cantilever how it will perform, launched at the smidgeon of conscience contender is the plastic usually used technical reasons to He then made a model Plank, a furniture structure, the plas- because the tests Milan Furniture Fair knows, in an environ- MYTO, a plastic by the automotive avoid those chairs, from paper. His mental crisis when chair, which is industry. Grcic, not least as it is models look clumsy - we’re awash with strong, comfortable, a softly spoken so difficult to make like something from more stuff than we light, stackable, German who is one cantilever chairs a kids’ creativity need or want, you compact and comes of Europe’s most stable enough to class - but Grcic shouldn’t even in a coolly angular influential product support themselves, finds that working MONITOR (RU) consider creating shape that is made designers, decided especially if you with his hands is another new object from a single piece at once to make a want them to be the most effective No. 45, January 2008, pp. 3–6 unless you’re sure of plastic using chair. “They’ve light and stackable way of thinking that it’s necessary. (eco-responsibly, of written design too. But Grcic was through the design. And one object that course) the minimum history,” he said. convinced that It also ensures that seems doomed to fail material possible. Grcic has designed BASF’s plastic would the finished object by Anna Yudina that test is the In short, it’s just many chairs over the enable him to crack will look both chair. about everything a years, but had never the challenge. instinctive and new chair should be. dared to attempt the “Ultradur® is a distinctive because Why? Because there most challenging master material, it was literally Inviting Konstantin the material. smallest gaps, while plastics.” Opting chair had to be are way too many of Every designer longs type of all: and BASF’s chemists shaped by his hands. Grcic to create an Grcic suggested a the water will flow for a cantilever exhibited in one them already. Think to produce a chair a cantilever chair can change the formula object that could chair — an ultimate very fast into all chair, Grcic had year at the K 2007 of the millions of like it, but to do with no back legs to make it very strong Once the model was fully reveal the structural challenge areas. High Speed is in mind its iconic plastics fair in cheap plastic chairs so they would face that’s supported by or very flexible,” he finished, its potential of the and one of the most analog to water, so status in modern Duesseldorf. Since swamping shopping a grueling battle its own structure. explained. “You need dimensions were Ultradur® High Speed visible consumer you can do something design: “Think of BASF wanted a real malls, and landfill against the laws of both properties in a uploaded into a plastic, BASF had products. Compared very fine and small- those by Breuer commercial product, sites. Or of the physics. And they Cantilever chairs cantilever chair, computer at his a big idea of pro- to other plastics scale, and at the and Mart Stam, made Grcic called for expensive ones being would probably lose, are shrouded by Ultradur® can be made Munich studio, and posing their product known to the furniture same time something possible when steel Italian manufacturer flogged for thousands because the odds of modernist mystique, extremely robust, the final structure to the international industry, High Speed quite big. The most has become strong Plank (for whom he of dollars at auction. striking a balance as so few have been but also very fluid. finessed by design design market. has an exceptional commonly used plastic enough. Later on had earlier designed Ever since Philippe between strength and made, and the best When it’s shot into software, which The material is mechanical strength. in the furniture there was Rietveld’s the Miura stool) and Starck swamped the stability, with known examples are the mold, it’s like predicted how much successfully used As a plastic used industry is polypro- wooden Zigzag, then a mould maker who, in 1980s design media lightness and stack- among the most the difference be- material is needed in the automotive in the car industry, pylene, a beautiful the Panton chair in his turn, brought in by turning the chair ability, would be famous designs of tween pouring honey to achieve the industry, yet BASF it is resistant to material with its 1968, originally a company to produce into a wobbly post- weighted so heavily the 20th century, and water. Water strength and are confident that the most extreme own qualities and made of a composite the machine on which modernist joke, against them. like Marcel Breuer’s flows much faster flexibility required with High Speed one climates. Formed by predictable limita- plastic with a core. the tool should be young designers and 1920s tubular steel and can go into the for each part of the can go further than injection moulding, tions. Ever since the Panton installed. The tight manufacturers have The MYTO’s designer, chairs, Verner thinnest parts of object. headlights or engine the material boasts I was interested chair there have schedule demanded a tried to make their Konstantin Grcic, Panton’s sexy 1960s the mold where honey For the MYTO, Grcic parts. The product a high flowability. in working with a been no attempts to truly efficient use names by dreaming up was given the chance plastic chair. would clog up.” conducted simulation category was not “Imagine a difference material that had make a cantilever of time. All players yet more (hopefully) to change the odds “It’s a no-go area, Grcic began the tests using BASF’s defined; the only between injecting totally different chair in plastic.” were involved in the photogenic chairs. when the German because it is the project, as he does software too. requirement was honey and water,” capabilities, in process right from Yet every so often chemical company icon of modern all of his commissions, to design an object explains Grcic. building a structure First discussions the start; experts a new chair comes BASF invited him to furniture design,” by imagining how the There is often a allowing people to “The honey is slow that we couldn’t took place in in engineering and along that confounds create a new product said Grcic. finished object will jolie laide quality really experience and won’t fill the make with other September ’06; the chemistry were there
MYTO a cantilever chair 70 71 MYTO a cantilever chair since the earliest allowing for extreme We had to analyze in Milan (April ’08), investment was spread nervous even then, think I’ve ever been method gave me the which the material is the cars, houses, stage, available to thick-to-thin tran- the reasons, and where the project between several and when it became involved in a more optimal conditions far thinner than in and fashions looked designers for an sitions, the whole by then it was only history will be participants; they clear that he wanted inspiring and effi- for finding out the the frame. Thanks to like, and also immediate feasibility chair is injected in BASF and their chem- illustrated by an shared their expertise to create a cantilever cient process. answer,” he continues. this, MYTO also what techniques check-up. November one go. Its delicate istry that could installation at the so that you could chair, their faces “This is my first “One of the challenges looks much lighter and materials were to February were mesh-like seat and solve the problem. Triennale palace. steer the project went a shade paler. cantilever chair. was to create a kind than its 5.6 kilos. available. Quite about developing the back presented the You can’t change “We want to encourage in a most efficient “I must say that Marcel Breuer’s of anatomical feel When asked why he simply, they reveal design, the structure biggest challenge, the mould any more: others to work this way. There was some- BASF was courageous tubular steel version to the chair as a chose to design a the spirit of and the machinery. as they had to the process is too way. The furniture thing in the project to take up the is known as a whole. Like in the chair, Grcic answered the age.” Then, a go-ahead was withstand a load of complicated, slow industry is in a that I often miss challenge,” Grcic pleasantly rocking, frame, where I that a chair – It remains to be given to make the 200kg and impacts and costly. But the kind of dead end at in this industry says. “While my timeless model. thought of how the especially a canti- seen whether MYTO moulding tool: from a kick or a chemistry allows you the moment. You deal where everything is colleagues and I I wanted to see if body’s muscles are lever one – would will feature on an a 200 000-Euro dropped object. to reinforce the with same-sized just difficult and worked on the design, that feeling could built up depending demand the utmost updated version investment, special “You make a lot of plastic, to use companies, the same not possible to do. they developed the be transferred to on exactly where the both from the material of Vitra’s poster. tempered steel, preliminary tests, additives changing frustrations and Here, we made it material further so plastic. And what strength is most and from himself The chances are good. computer controlled but there is always its properties — limited resources, difficult ourselves, that it could sat- would the Panton needed and the load as a designer. milling, and a a risk,” says Grcic. it’s really like while building a but it was a challenge isfy the demands of chair look like if is greatest.” “As well, I’m fasci- 3-month production “The simulation cooking.” team of experts that motivated the chair as opti- it had been created The chair’s flexi- nated by how much period. The first software is soph- After the Duessel- from the beginning people, and everyone mally as possible. today?” wonders the bility lies not only chairs tell us about chair emerged in isticated but this dorf preview at the has created a whole wanted to make it At the same time designer, who is in its frame; both their own eras. late August, proving is theory and the BASF stand, Plank new situation where possible.” Plank was working known for taking his the seat and back Think of the Vitra that the system practice is different. will show the MYTO everyone had his on the production products that one should also feel as Design Museum’s basically worked. Some of the first chair in Cologne own interest. requirements. step further, and springy as cushions. classic poster of With the new plastic chairs broke. (January ’08), and The necessary big Thanks to these pushing the prevail- The solution lies in chairs that are parallel efforts in ing limits by posing a combination of the design icons from a continual dialogue new questions. geometry of the seat different eras. between everyone “The material and and back – a perfor- By looking at them involved, I don’t the manufacturing ated mesh pattern in we understand what FORM (SE)
No. 218, January/February 2008, pp. 80-81
Why a chair? by Susanne Helgeson
It is chairs that Milan fair, is being dropped from ture is that it only conference at K 2007 write history. undeniably unique a three-metre height took a year from the in October not one Three participants in many ways. First, onto MYTO. first meeting to the question was directed in a record-fast it is unusual that The chair rebounds presentation of the at me – everyone process with a a materials producer, high up, which in final product, which only wanted to talk unique result. in this case the slow motion creates was shown to the about the material’s Soon the Milan fair world-leading chemical a very striking world’s plastic and properties and will be playing a group BASF, initiates image of its elas- rubber enthusiasts possibilities, so fanfare for the MYTO a collaborative ticity. Ultradur® at the biggest trade they spoke with chair, a joint venture project. Second, the is also heat and UV fair for that audi- the engineers and by Konstantin Grcic, Ultradur® High Speed resistant, which, ence – K 2007 in technicians from Plank and BASF. engineering plastic combined with the Düsseldorf. After BASF,” Grcic says. is new in a furniture mesh pattern of the fair the 200 “And of course that “MYTO is my twenty- context. The plastic its seat and back, exhibited chairs was what BASF wanted first chair and is as fluid as increases the were destroyed so – to have a product probably the most water, which means chair’s possible that no one could act as a tool to unique,” says it can get into the areas of use. see them again before convey information Konstantin Grcic. narrowest corners The material, which six months later in about the material “The combination of of the mould, and it has originally been Milan. They will be itself.” process, design, and also retains its invented in the late shown by Plank, of He remembers when seating experience exact shape after sixties, was optimized course, but also in he first said that was incredibly the moulding process. in several development a large exhibition he wanted to create inspiring.” The plastic is cycles to perform at La Triennale, a chair, as opposed The chair, which extremely durable, the specific require- where the whole to, let’s say, a will doubtless be a as Grcic demonstrates ments of the MYTO process will be bottle opener. topic of conversation in a film that shows chair. illustrated. The BASF technicians at this spring’s a 50-kilo weight Another unique fea- “During the press looked a little Examples from international press reactions to MYTO prior to production begin.
MYTO a cantilever chair 72 73 MYTO a cantilever chair BASF KGID PLANK
BASF is the world’s Konstantin Grcic received international PLANK’s history Staatliches Museum leading chemical Industrial Design design awards and dates back to 1893. für angewandte company. was established in are part of For generations, the Kunst/Design in Its portfolio ranges Munich, Germany in permanent design name has stood for der Pinakothek der from chemicals, 1991. The studio collections such the highest quality. Moderne, Munich, plastics, performance is specialised in as Museum of Modern The basic objective Germany; Museé du products, agriculture various fields of Art/New York, Centre has always been the Quebéc, Québec City, products and fine design, ranging from Georges Pompidou/ investigation and Canada; Triennale chemicals to crude furniture design to Paris, Die Neue intensive research Design Museum, oil and natural gas. comissioned work Sammlung/Munich. for technological Milan, Italy). MYTO a cantilever chair As a reliable partner like architectural In June 2005 PHAIDON possibilities con- to nearly all projects. Konstantin Press, London, nected to the prin- industries BASF’s Grcic defines published the first ciples of design. sustainable develop- function in human comprehensive mono- PLANK works together Initiators ment of high value terms, combining graphy about the with renowned de- products and formal strictness work of Konstantin signers. Together intelligent system with considerable Grcic Industrial with Konstantin Grcic solutions help its mental acuity and Design. The 240 page PLANK presented customers to be humour. Each of his volume was edited the MIURA bar stool more successful. products is charac- by Florian Böhm. (2005), which was For BASF sustainable terised by his careful recently added to development means research into the the collection of combining long term history of design the Museum of Modern business growth and architecture Art in New York. with environmental and his passion PLANK products are protection and social for technology and part of the most responsibility, thus materials. Known for important museum contributing to pared-down pieces, collections around shape a successful Grcic is often called the world (MoMA, future. a minimalist but the New York, USA; designer himself Museum für prefers to speak of Angewandte Kunst, simplicity. Many of Frankfurt, Germany; the products have Die Neue Sammlung,
Dr. Tsung-Chieh Cheng Kurt Höfli BASF Martin Plank BASF PLANK Application Director Marketing Development Konstantin Grcic Product Engineering Plastics Engineer KGID Development
Dr. Andreas Eipper Thomas Fritzsche BASF BASF Michael Plank Technical PLANK Business Product Manager Alexander Löhr BASF KGID PLANK ® ® Manager Ultradur Ultradur KGID General Manager likes to thank: likes to thank: likes to thank:
Dr. John Feldmann Massimo Virginio Giovanna Silva Sandra Laube Dr. Harald Lauke Lorenzo Consolaro Barbara Raschig Takeshi Izuhori Anja Bakker Mark Völkel Dr. Hoven-Nievelstein Narciso Nichele Alice Rawsthorn Josef Mauracher BASF BASF Biagio Cisotti PLANK Dr. Christian Exner Giorgio Vanzo Susanne Helgeson Dr. Christian Application Technical Bruno Hartfelder Andrej Kupetz Anna Yudina Harrasser Development Project Manager Creative Dr. Sabine Philipp, Helge Azmoneit Oliver Herwig and all collab- ® Engineer Ultradur Consultant Manuela Unger Barbara Glasner Gerrit Terstiege orators at Plank Michael Tritschler Irina Sasse who contributed Nina Herz Mike Meiré to the project. Stefanie Antonic Stephanie Eckerskorn Dr. Ulrich Endemann Ulli Wolf Monika Kochs BASF Peter Gruber PLANK Karl-Heinz Homberg Kerstin Anna Berger Manager Leonhard Ullrich Petra Schmidt Application Product Gerhard Leiter Stefano Boeri Engineering Development Anniina Koivu
MYTO a cantilever chair 74 75 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair
MYTO a cantilever chair 76 77 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO a cantilever chair 78 79 MYTO a cantilever chair MYTO
a cantilever chair the making of MYTO a project by BASF KGID PLANK Ludwigshafen / Munich / Ora Milan April 2008 height 820 mm width 510 mm length 550 mm weight 5.6 kg ® material Ultradur High Speed by BASF
Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design