Light Light
- Year: 1987
- Designer: Alberto Meda
- Company: Alias
The idea of the chair came from experimental research on the technology of composites, to test their potential usage in the home environment.
These composites a sandwich with a honeycomb core of Nomex, a special type of polyamide and unidirectional carbon fabric coverings are usually utilized to make strong, light components for the aerospace and racing sectors.
The chair is an opportunity to test the structural performance of these anisotropic materials in a structure stressed directly by the weight of the user.
The objective of lightness, to reveal structural performance, means reducing the sections to a minimum, working by 'subtraction'. The idea of solidity and stability, that has taken form over time in a construction tradition based on the technologies of wood and metal, seems to clash with the slender look of the structure.
The resulting form is not governed by a predetermined language, but by the aim of investigating the limits of the possible.
To arrange the fabrics in the mould in a controlled manner, and to position the material for optimized load bearing, expert manual intervention is required, or the use of robots to automate the cutting of the fabrics and the preparation of the moulds: industrialization, in spite of advanced technologies, implies processes of genuine craftsmanship.