The Smart Wood family is growing with the arrival of the office chair on casters, which focuses on comfort thanks to its wide, welcoming seat. The seat height is adjustable. The poetry of wood embraces technology… Kartell creates an event by including wood in its catalogue for the first time in its history! With the Smart Wood collection, Kartell and Philippe Starck rise to a new challenge: working wood with the same fluidity as composite materials to give it a new look, full of finesse and curves. With its unique moulded wooden shell, the Smart Wood collection combines timeless elegance, contemporary shapes and perfect finishes. The generous curves and dimensions of the shell provide excellent seating comfort. The major figures Ray and Charles Eames were the first to experiment with moulding plywood into complex shapes. More than 50 years later, technological advances have allowed Kartell to offer even more with less. This is the Smart Wood collection. Philippe Starck explains: “I wanted to create wooden seats using just a minimum of material. Twenty years ago, you could bend wood two centimetres, then five, six, and so on. I wanted to bend it thirty-five centimetres… Each year, I gained another centimetre! To launch the Smart Wood range, it was necessary to invent a technology that did not exist.” This feat was made possible thanks to a unique patented 3D technology that produces a wooden curvature of extreme proportions. Moulded wood adopts incredible sinuous lines with enveloping curves, like an embrace that offers total comfort. To reduce the cutting down of trees, the shell uses very little material: just wood residues. It’s made from ash nano-shavings glued in nano-layers which are then laminated. Then, using machines that cut the wood in line, the wood takes on the appearance of a kind of fabric that can be deformed. For ten to fifteen minutes, the wood, now soft as silk, can be moulded. As it dries, it stiffens and returns to the texture of wood. Claudio Luti, president of Kartel, explains: “After years of research, we managed to work the wood while respecting the nobility of the material. Innovative technology has allowed us to stay true to the industrial characteristics of Kartell’s DNA. With the Smart Wood collection, we changed the paradigm, so it’s no longer about using wooden elements to build a structure, but bending the wood so it turns into a three-dimensional seat. We have been able to fully express the true essence of wood by combining industrial production, beauty, robustness, comfort and flexibility into a single product.” Inaugurating a new chapter in the brand’s history, the Smart Wood collection is an integral part of a major project: ”Kartell Loves the Planet”. The latter aims to promote all good practices in terms of sustainability for a process of production and use of recyclable raw materials with a low environmental impact.

In detail:

Variation : Dark wood & black / Black leg

Brand : Kartell

Designer : Philippe Starck

Type : Office armchair

Colour : Shell: dark wood / Seat: black plastic / Base: black

Material : Shell: plywood (made from seven nano-layers of ash from FSC-controlled production), with stained beech veneer, transparent protective varnish: moulded using 3D technology – Seat: Thermoplastic technopolymer – Structure: varnished steel – Base with arms: varnished aluminium

Dimensions : L 62 x Depth 60 cm x H 81 to 94 cm – Seat: H 37 to 50 cm

Weight : 17.6 lb

Characteristics : Wheeled armchair – Adjustable height (lever under the seat) – Dual material – Unique patented 3D moulding technology – Wood from controlled production (FSC) – Made in Italy

Country of Manufacture : Italy